You mean, Rukawa has a best friend?
by pathogenicmicroorganism
Summary: COMPLETE! Rukawa and Kira are best friends. Kira likes Sendoh, Sendoh likes her. No problem there, then Rukawa starts liking Kira, which leads to more unfortunate consequences. He didn't mean to, really, but can he help it if he falls in lo
1. Chapter 1

All disclaimers apply. Danke!

**You mean, Rukawa has a best friend?**

Yamato Kira had always been a cheerful girl. She loved the life she was living, and she made sure that every single human being that is alive currently in God's green earth knows about it. There was not a day that Kira didn't smile once. There was even a time when, after waiting for him, she stood up and hit her head on the low roof, and all she did after saying 'ow' was laugh.

Rukawa Kaede shook his head as he recalled this memory and wondered how on earth did she land a best friend like her.

It wasn't that he was complaining, but she and him were as different as night is from day. He was quiet and liked to be alone, she is the life of the party and enjoys the company of anyone who was withing speaking distance to her, not that she never gets mad, she does but she prefers herself to be bubbly and light.

They were in the park, Kaede leaning by a cold statue, cold but snowless, his arms crossed across his chest, looking intently at Kira who was making snowballs and grinning like it was the first time she had seen snow in her entire life.

Kira must have noticed the fact that Kaede was staring at her, she looked at him and grinned, tucking her rich red hair behind her ear, her moss green eyes sparkling in his direction.

"Hn," he said, acknowledging that they were staring at each other.

Kira broke their staring contest by picking up one of the snowballs and presenting it to him, though they were a good ten feet away from each other. "This is quite fun," she said.

"Hn." Said Kaede again, motioning to the fact that he heard her, though he made no more movements after that.

Kira pouted at him slightly, and threw the snowball at him, hitting him in the arm. "You're no fun,"

"Yes I am," he said, feeling quite offended. He had always thought of himself as fun, though his definition of fun did include a basketball court and a ball.

"No you're not," she said, smiling slightly as she threw another snowball at him, "You're good target practice though."

Rukawa glared slightly at her. He had often wondered how she managed to put up with him. After all, they were extreme opposites of each other and have hardly anything in common. They don't even go to the same school. He's in Shohoku High, and she's going to Ryonan.

But she did put up with him and his silent ways. He had lost many acquaintances by not speaking. He felt that he didn't need to talk to anyone for social reasons. During those times, all he thought about was basketball, and when he answers that when asked what he was thinking, they don't press the matter further.

Maybe if they did I would talk to them more, he thought.

But Kira, she was different. She was content in doing the talking, and Rukawa found it easy to listen to her, her voice wasn't high, shrilly and annoying like some girl voices. She didn't seem to mind at all that he didn't talk much and was contented with his small short answers. If he didn't feel like talking she didn't mind.

Besides, it wasn't like she talked all the time, there were times when she was silent, and they both just sit there and say nothing and that's normal for the both of them. Each other's presence was enough.

Rukawa then noticed that the snow has started again. He saw Kira raise her head up and stick her tongue out, waiting for snowflakes to reach her tongue. She smiled after tasting snow and started making snowballs again.

He glared at the snow that was landing on his gloves. Stupid snow. Stupid cold. If it was warm and sunny, he would be out, but not in thick warm clothes. He would have a basketball in his hands, and he would drag Kira along with him to keep records of how many shots he makes and how many he didn't. Oh, and to bring water too.

He looked longingly at the courts, that were covered with snow. He ordered it in his mind to become miraculously dry and snowless.

Obviosuly, it didn't work.

"You know, Kaede," said Kira suddenly. Kaede turned to her, and she had that ever present smile in her face. "If you stare at the courts long enough it might just agree to marry you."

Rukawa stared at her.

"Of course, it would have competition."

Another quality he liked about Kira was that she was not one of his crazed fans. Sure, she liked him. He liked to think that she liked him a lot, but not in the I'm-one-of-your-crazed-fans-marry-me-now way. She liked him, just enough.

And that was more than enough for him.

Besides, she already has a crush. That idiot, Sendoh Akira.

Rukawa felt himself frown. He didn't see what she saw in him. Sure, he's an excellent basketball player, he'd give him that, but what other qualities does he have? As far as he was concerned, all Sendoh Akira had was a big ugly head with a bunch of spiked on top.

He was about to continue his small tirade about just how stupid Sendoh was when Kira gasped. Rukawa straightened and saw that she was hit at the side of the face by a rather large snowball that came out of nowhere. It was so big and Kira was caught off guard so much that she stumbled sideways.

Quick as a flash, Rukawa was by her side and caught her mid fall.

"You okay?" he mumbled, straightening her and wiping the remaining snow off her face.

Kira nodded and smiled slightly. "Yeah, I'm fine," she said. Her teeth chattered slightly, and she wiped her face with her hankerchief. She flashed him her sweetest smile. "Thanks."

"Anytime."

"Oy! YOU!"

Both Kira and Kaede turned and saw a red orange head coming towards them. Inwardly, Rukawa groaned as he recognized who that head belong to. Out loud, he said, quite irritably, "Hn."

Kira raised a red eyebrow (she's a natural redhead…it happens). "You don't seem to happy to see your team mate."

"Not _that_ team mate," he muttered, glaring at the approaching figure.

"Oy, you," the man said when he was withing earshot, "sorry I didn't mean to hit that at you, it was supposed to be for Michy, but he ducked and – "

It was then that the man realized that Rukawa was behind Kira. He promptly took a step back and mouth and eyes wide open pointed quite rudely at Rukawa. "YOU!"

"Kira, you know Sakuragi," he mumbled at her.

Kira had a benign smile in her face an nodded. "Of course he is."


	2. Chapter 2

Hello everyone! Just want to say thank you to those who reviewed I really appreciate it kisses!

**Shoyo4**: Thank you very much for liking the story, er, I dont really know if Yamato Kira is from Gundam Seed, i didn't really watch any Gundam anything, so can't answer that, hehe! Kira is a name I've always liked and Yamato is one of my sister's friend's name.

**Hala**: Yes, I will, please don't throttle me...

**Miss Hachigatsu Kuroi**: Er, Of course he is, like stating the obvious, I guess, it just seemed right at the time, thank you for the cheers!

**Neko11lover: **I know! Rukawa isn't gay! Honestly, I'm not sure how this would turn out, yet, but even if I did, I won't tell you, you might stop reading, hehe thank you for the review!

And now, onto the story! Dun dun dun dun dun dun!

You mean, Rukawa has a best friend?

Chapter Two

Rukawa wanted to throttle Sakuragi Hanamichi right now.

It wasn't that he hated Sakuragi, he even complimented him during a basketball game for goodness sake. It was more like Sakuragi hated _him._ Sure they fight with each other, fight a lot even in front of many people, including Kira and coach Anzai, but it was because Sakuragi always annoys him into it.

Kira knows Sakuragi through him, she sees him fight with him during basketball games and she hears him complaining about him, Sakuragi all the time, especially after games, which was about the only time that he strings more than one sentence at a time.

The reason of their fights was not unknown to Rukawa. Somehow, Sakuragi has it in his head that he is after his, Sakuragi's, love, Akagi Haruko. But Rukawa was not interested in her. As far as he was concerned, Haruko was just another one of those crazed fan girls that screams at every basketball game.

Besides, he already has a girl, Kira.

Wait.

What?

Over Sakuragi's shoulder, Rukawa'sconfusing and slightly shocking thought was interrupted as hecould see Mitsui and Ryoga bounding up following Sakuragi. Mitsui had plastered a large grin in his face, as he looked at the back of Sakuragi's head.

"Nice shot, Hanamichi!" he cried, laughing slightly, "great aim you-"

This was then the time that he noticed Kira, who was currently looking at him with a curiously.

"Hello," he said deeply, flashing what Mitsui seemed to think was a charming smile, which in essence it was. "I don't seem to know you."

Kira smiled back at him. "Oh, I know you."

"Really," he said, eyebrows slightly raised.

Kira nodded. "Hmm," she said, "You're Mitsui Hisashi," then she turned to Ryoga. "And you're Ryoga (can someone tell me what Ryoga's first name is? It's escaping me at the moment, sorry to all Ryoga fans! slams head at the table for punishment)."

Ryoga nodded. "Right," he said, "erm, how do you know us?"

At this Kira beamed at Rukawa. "Kaede told me," she said.

At this, all of Sakuragi's Ryoga's and Mitsui's eyebrows raised and all looked at him, quite rudely in his opinion.

"Who are you?" blurted out Sakuragi, a finger pointing just above her chest. Rukawa glared at the finger until it's accusing was dropped.

"My name's Kira," she answered. "Yamato Kira."

Sakuragi then turned his narrowed eyes in Rukawa's glaring ones.

"She you're sister?" blurted Sakuragi.

"Hn. No."

"Oh," said Mitsui, then grinned, "she your girlfriend then?"

"No."

"Cousin?"

"No."

"You can try friend," piped in Kira, looking at the three of them. "We're best friends in fact."

"You mean," said Sakuragi, who looked genuinely shocked. "Rukawa has a best friend?"

Rukawa continued to glare at Sakuragi. Why the hell is that so hard to believe? A lot of people have friends, and no one questions them about it, why should he be any different. "Is that such a crime?" he muttered. "Doahou."

"Well it is a little hard to believe Rukawa," said Mitsui reasonably.

"Yeah," agreed Ryoga. "You don't look the type."

At this Rukawa pouted, slightly. Why is that so bad? So he doesn't look the type, big deal, the point is he has a best friend. So why don't they just lay off and mind their own business like normal people?

"It's not that hard to believe!" cried Kira suddenly, a slightly pissed off look on her face. "I'm here aren't I? He's not running away from me like I'm one of is crazed fans! We've known each other for ten years so it's not his fault if you don't know about it. Now lay off!"

"Wait a minute there," said Mitsui backing away a step. Ryoga was actually waving a quickly made white flag in the air. Rukawa didn't know how he managed to make it so fast but he did know just how sharp Kira can be, and that wasn't even a warm up. "We didn't mean anything by what we said."

"Yeah," said Sakuragi. "Besides, Ryoga said it, not us."

"Hey!" cried Ryoga, staring at Sakuragi. "Don't act like you're all innocent in all this!"

Rukawa stared at the three of them as they had a staring contest. He didn't think that it was possible for three people to have a staring contest but apparently, they could. They just needed to know who to look at. A few more seconds and Rukawa decided that this was a waste of time and took Kira's arm.

Kira looked at him and smiled. "They like to fight with each other, ne?"

"You have no idea."

"Yeah, I do." she said, grinning. "I know just how well you and Sakuragi fight, and if that's always the case then I shouldn't be getting any peace when I'm around you lot." Her grin became wider. "That'd be nice, it breaks the monotomy."

"Hn." said Rukawa and started to walk away. A few more moments and he was joined by Kira at his said, who looked up at him, grinning.

"They looked like a lot of fun." she said.

Rukawa didn't answer.

Kira, being the right kind of best friend, for Rukawa didn't press him for an answer.

Yes, there are right kinds of best friends for the right kinds of people. You just have to know where to look.


	3. Chapter 3

Ah, Chapter Three...guess what? We have internet now! Yay! Rejoice rejoice! I've been bored out of my mind here for a month now in the house! Yay! Thank you, Switzerland companies!

Anyway,

**Hala: **I know it was a bit short, see that was suppose to be one chapter only, but once I edited it, it became too long, and I don't know about you but when one chapter gets to be too long, I kinda lose interest in the end, so there yougo, butI promise, next time thechapters will be longer. Pinkie swear! And yes, this will be kind of a long story, since my shortstories are usually one shots and the rest will just have to go on and on and on...

**dollarbanks:**hello! Thank you for the information, will change all of Ryoga's name to Ryota right now! Again sorry to all the Ryota Miyagi fans! SorrySorrySorrySorrySorrySorrySorrySorrypantpantSorrySorrySorrySorrySorrySorrySorry! Oh, and Sendoh won't be evil bad man, I likehim too...

**Miss Hachigatsu Kuroi** Hello! Yeah, thanks to those who told me who about Ryota is and his name. Thankyou thank you thank you. Oh, and I'll try to make sure that you know who's talking about what and stuff. Thanks!

Anyway...

On to the story!

You mean, Rukawa has a best friend?

Chapter Three

Monday just didn't start out right for Kira. Not right at all. She woke up right on time, and there was the usual 'good morning' text from Rukawa. That made her smile a bit (it took a lot of cooing and coaxing from her to convince him to get a cell phone). But that was the end of a good run.

She took a shower, expecting some nice hot water but then screamed in surprise and shockas she was hit directly by extremely freezing cold water. It was by some miracle that she didn't just jump up from the bathtub and hit her head squarely on the cold tile bathroom floor.She didn't imagine that she can move so fast when it came to washing her hair, which she was extremely fond of.

Her mood becoming more irritable by the minute, she left for school and locked the house. Her parents had already gone to work halfway through her fast shower. Halfway to school, she then realized that she forgot her term paper that was due today. She glared at the cement floor for about five seconds before she turned around and stomped back to her house, and grumbled all the way to school.

When she got there, she was ten minutes late for her first class, even after she decided she should just give up her pride and run all the way to school. The result was when she opened the door furiously hard, the entire class looked at her while she panted, trying desperately to catch her breath. She was also trying hard not to think about that poor man she knocked down the pavement, shouting a fast apology to him, but still feeling quite embarrassed.

"You're late," said her sensei coolly, staring at her through his thick glasses.

Ooh, well spotted, she thought, looking at her sensei, still trying to catch her breath. She dearly wantedto say those wordsbut what came out from her mouth was , "I'm sorry, sensei, it won't happen again." She said this in the sweetest I'm-so-sweet-and-adorable-please-don't-punish-me-way.

It seemed to have worked, because he nodded. "You make sure of that," he said, accepting her term paper.

Kira grumbled all the way to her seat, someof herclassmates hearing her and giving her amused smilesand when she got there, to her seat that is,she rested her chin on her palm and looked out at the window, which was not reflecting her mood at all. It was bright and sunny, without a cloud in the sky. In all essence it was a perfect day.

She wished she reflected the world's mood, but she barely took in what her sensei was saying as sighed heartedly.

Monday just wasn't her day.

* * *

Monday didn't turn out to be so bad after that, but Kira wasn't still in the best mood. The fact that her perfect attendance record was blemished by her tardiness today was annoying her to no end, and she felt like annoying anyone who would talk to her, which she did. She was usually a nice friendly girl who would gladly talk to anyone with a smile on her face, but today she ended most conversations with one snappy retort or the other, which she always ends up regretting afterwards. 

It was the end of the day and she was stuffing her things in her locker, with much more force than needed be, so that many of the other students had to jump away because she was slamming things into the metal box so hard the whole thing might just topple over and hit them.

She saw one of the big books that she needed for her homework. She took it out with so much force that she lost grip of the book and it went flying over her shoulder and heard it hit something.

"Ow!"

Apparently, it hit some_one._

She gasped and turned around. She felt an embarrassing flush of pink on her face and she felt it warm up.

"Oh. My. Goodness," she said, her hands going over her mouth. Sendoh Akira was standing in front of him, one hand holding her book and the other massaging his forehead as he looked at her. "I am so sorry," she gasped, forcing, willing herself to not blush. Donotblushdonotblushdonotblush. "I didn't realized that you were there!"

Sendoh handed her her book as he waved it off. "It's okay," he said, "I get hit by books all the time."

"I really am sorry. I didn't mean it." She said, again, looking at her foot and then looking back at him.

Sendoh looked at her, a small smile in his face.

"Honest," she added weakly.

"I told you, it's all right,"

She looked down on the ground, her face was probably flushing furiously now, and she ordered herself to calm down and stop blushing.

When she looked up, she expected Sendoh to be gone, or at least to start walking away or something. She didn't think of anything to say to him and she didn't think of anything he can say to her.

But he was still there, looking curiously at her, a smile in his face.

"Er," she said, shifting her weight from one foot to the other, "did I mention that I was sorry?" She could see behind Sendoh many girls whispering to each other and glaring at her slightly. Please, she thought, trying to look at the heavens without making it too obvious, I don't need any more embarrassment.

"Yeah," said Sendoh cheerfully, "three times now."

"Oh," she said, going red again, "right."

These were just one of those times when the Big Guy Upstairs abandons you adn enjoys watching you squirm, thought Kira, who managed to supress a giggle, because it was one of those lines that she had learned from Kaede growing up.

Apparently, supressing her giggles didn't make Sendoh not notice. "Is something funny?" he asked curiously.

Kira shook her head quickly. "No, no," she said, "It's nothing..."

Silence then consumed them for another half a minute.

In those thirty seconds - for seconds can go notoriously slow when they are spent incomplete silence - Kira wondered why Sendoh was still standing in front of her. They didn't have anything to talk about after all. In fact, if Kira had not stategically hit him with her book, he wouldn't _be _standing in front of her, staring. Why doesn't he just give a final smile, wave and head off to the gym, like any normal guy who is obsessed with the game of basketball?

Finally...

"Are you in my year?" he asked curiously, "I haven't seen you before."

She shook her head. "Er, no," she said, "I'm a freshman, and I don't usually watch a lot of your practice so you don't see me screaming at the top of my lungs." She grinned. Mocking those kind of girls had been a favorite past times of hers, until Rukawa's three die hard fans decided that they should meet up after the game and pull all her hair out, a fight that was quickly stopped by the timely arrival of the object of said three girls' affections.

Sendoh took out his hand. "I'm Sendoh Akira," he said.

I knew that, she thought. She took his hand and shook it. His handshake was firm and warm. She wanted to swoon right then and there but she managed to control herself. After all, she still had some dignity left in her. "I'm Yamato Kira," she said.

"Nice to meet you, Kira," he answered, smiling.

"Likewise," she said. Then she looked at her hands, he was still shaking hers. "Er, my hand?"

"Oh!" he said, quickly letting go, "sorry."

"No problem."

"Well," he said, putting his back over his shoulder. "I have to go, practice you know."

She nodded. "Of course," she said nodding fervently, "Go. Uozmi might go ballistic if you're late."

He had started to walk away, and a few steps later he turned his head over his shoulder and smiled at her. "I'll see you around then?" he asked.

Gosh, I hope so, she thought. "Absolutely," she answered, smiling back, then wanted to smack herself for thinking that she was a little bit too enthusiastic.

His smile turned to a grin as he turned back and ran all the way to the gym.

She leaned casually against her locker as she closed it softly and sighed, a goofy smile still in her face. It was after she realized that many girls were giving her loathing looks that could easily spell her murder,she straightened up, wiped the grin off her face and started to walk out of the school before any of them start thinking of doing something drastic to her.

She took out her cellphone quickly and dialed a number she dials so many times a day that she has it memorized. She smirked as he thought what his reaction might be."Hey, Kaede," she greeted enthusiastically. She was almost skipping on the way out of school. "Yeah, I know you have practice, okay I get it, but listen, remember when I told you over lunch that I hated today? It might not be so bad after all…"


	4. Chapter 4

You mean, Rukawa has a best friend?

Chapter Four

"And that's fifty, Kaede," said Kira cheerfully, catching the ball from under the hoop. She beamed at him proudly. "Well done! I'm impressed."

To Rukawa this was nothing new. He had on one occasion made two hundred and fifty straight shots. He almost whooped on that point but managed to control himself. He was not one to brag after all, and his dignity was something he held very dear.Now, he thought, catching the ball as Kira passed it to him easily, let's see if I can make a hundred…

Silence...ah, this was nice...Kira watching him softly in silence...nothing can break his concentration...he will make one hundred...as long as there's silence...

"Oi! Rukawa!"

Rukawa felt his concentration snap as he stood straight and heard his captain's booming voice. He winced, and tried to turn around to face the speaker without staring at him with death spelled in his own face. After all, this was his captain he would about to face. A senior, and elder that needs to be respected. He looked at the basketball still in his hand. He had hoped to be alone here, with Kira, of course, he was already in the 'zone', as Kira calls it. He would get it back of course, but right now, he was well out of it.

He turned slowly (achieving the look of polite curiosity and not the I'm-gonna-murder-you-later look) around as he saw not only his captain Akagi, but the rest of the Shohoku Basketball team. He saw Sakuragi looking smugly at him, and he gave him the I'm-gonna-murder-you-later look. He turned to Kira, who was smiling apologetically and shrugging.

"Don't look at me," she said, shrugging again, "I didn't tell them that you're here. I didn't think they would know about this place."

Rukawa only heard of this place from Kira herself. She said that it was newly made for indoor basketball.

This was true enough. She saw it on the way home after school, and as soon as she did, she rushed home and called Kaede to tell him about it. She knew how he missed the game terribly - how he missed playing alone that is -and would give anything to get rid of the snow off his beloved court just a few blocks away from his house.

When he heard the news of the new basketball court, he wasted no time in dressing and practically dragged Kira away from her own house to keep him company, or as he put it, to keep tabs on his record.

He really thought that he could be along here, since it was new and all. He thought that no one would know about it yet.

But now all he heard was the constant dribbling of many balls and the oh so irritating voice of one Sakuragi Hanamichi.

"So kitsune!" he cried, the air of his smugness so thick you could cut it with a knife, "you thought that you would have all this place for yourself!"

"…hn."

"Well you are wrong!" he cried, pointing a finger directly at Rukawa's chest. "and you may bow down low now, for you are in the presence of tensai basketball man! Nyahahaha!"

For some unknown reason, a set of elaborate fireworks suddenly erupted behind Sakuragi as he laughed maniacally, and the words 'tensai basketball man' suddenly was illuminated above his head. Rukawa had always wondered how he was able to do that. Where did the sign and the fireworks come from? He didn't see him bring it in here...

However, he wasn't about to show that he is in the least bit curious. Rukawa turned his back to him, sighed, and said, "Doahou."

The fireworks stopped, and the sign fell on top of Sakuragi, forming a big lump on his head. Rukawa turned to him, Sakuragi was already on the floor nursing his head. He smirked openly at him. He rubbed it once and then glared at Rukawa. "What did you say Kitsune?"

Rukawa looked at him, and said, again, as dully as before, "Doahou."

"Oh yeah!" he cried, "let's see who's more of a" – and here he adopted Rukawa's couldn't-care-less look – "'doahou' – between the two of us. Let's play some one on one!"

The rest of the team must have been listening, because Mitsui's laugh echoed all over the room. Ryota was trying to bite back a laugh himself.

Sakuragi glared at the pair of them. "And what is so funny?"

"You," said Mitsui, grinning, "you actually think that you can beat Rukawa on one on one?"

"Yes."

Ryota was laughing out loud now. Mitsui was clutching on Ryota's shoulder to make sure that he was still standing on his feet. Even Akagi was trying to bite back a laugh, which he was succeeding magnificently. Kira was giggling behind Rukawa and was dribbling a ball.

"What!"

"The day you beat Rukawa on one on one," said Ryota, between the gales of his laugher, "is the day that I shave my head bald."

Sakuragi glared at the two of them, armsin his waist."Are you telling me that I can't beat Rukawa?"

Mitsui and Ryota suddenly adopted straight looks and looked at him. Mitsui said seriously, "Yeah, Hanamichi, that is exactly what we're telling you."

And then the great tussle between the three of them started. Rukawa caught the words 'never', 'annoying', 'kill' and 'you'.

"Well that _does_ look like fun."

The tussle stopped. Balls were not dribbled, silence ruled the small gym as every one turned to look at the doors.

There stood, in all his annoying he-thinks-he's-so-great glory, Sendoh Akira, in full basketball uniform - but with a jacket on, it was still cold out there - and a ball rested by his waist, a small smile gracing his annoying head and looking at the rest of them curiously. "And I thought that I'd be alone here." He said. "Hi," he greeted everybody

The rest of the team just nodded their hellos. Ryonan wasn't exactly the enemy, but he was from another team, making him a rival. Rukawa didn't nod or made any move to say hello, instead choosing to aim the ball in the hoop and shooting it effortlessly.

"Sixty, Kaede," said Kira suddenly, breaking the silence.

"Kira!" said Sendoh suddenly. Rukawa saw that he really did look genuinely surprised, and then quickly turned to Kira who was blushing a faint pink."I didn't know that you'd be here!"

Kira smiled, and Rukawa shot the ball again. She was a deeper shade of pink. "I didn't know you'd be here either." She said, grinning, "can't get away from the game?"

"You can say that," he answered, shooting the ball too, and making it. Kira caught the ball and passed it back to him, and then quickly went after Rukawa's.

Rukawa was a bit annoyed. He never had to share Kira with anyone before. She was his best friend, after all. His. Not Sendoh's. His.

"Who you with?" asked Sendoh.

Kira passed the ball back to Rukawa. "I'm with Kaede," she said, smiling.

"Oh," said Sendoh, surprised again. "Really?" he asked, almost disbelievingly.

Rukawa envisioned the ball he was holding was Sendoh's stupid head as his fingers dug into it.

"Hmm."

"Er, are you his sister or something?"

Kira laughed and shook her head, catching another ball and passing it back to Rukawa. "No," she said, "we're best friends, and neighbors."

"Really," he said, though he sounded unconvinced. "Right."

If Rukawa just had sharp nails like Kira's, the ball would have exploded five minutes ago.

"We are," said Kira firmly. "we really are. It's not that hard to believe."

Sendoh took aim at the hoop again. "If you say so," he said, and shot it.

"I don't see why it's that hard to believe." She said, catching two balls at the same time and passing it to the both of them. A very small pout now graced her face, and she was still looking at Sendoh.

"Well," said Sendoh, looking at Rukawa. Rukawa glared at him. "Never mind."

Rukawa shot another ball straight into the net.

Kira, however was beaming at Rukawa, then turned to Sendoh. "He is very good isn't he?" she said proudly, beaming at Rukawa again.

"Well, yeah," said Sendoh, shrugging. Rukawa smirked. He bet that he didn't like that.

"You're good too," added Kira, though Rukawa hoped that it was just to make him feel better about himself.

"Oh, thanks," he said. "Do you play?"

At this Kira's nose wrinkled. She didn't like playing, partly because she wasn't very good at it, and partly because she didn't want to annoy Rukawa into trying to teach her. Not that he hasn't. He's spent an entire summer once trying to teach her the basics of basketball. It all went to her head, but the application, well, was a little less than desirable.

"I don't play," she said, "I'm not very good. I get it, but my hands and feet don't. Kaede's tried to teach me last summer, it wasn't very pretty." She smiled openly, not at all ashamed that she couldn't play the game. Rukawa didn't mind much. He had thought that he was good enough for the both of them.

At this Sendoh looked at Rukawa, a small smile in his face. "Well," he said, "maybe you just don't have the right teacher."

Rukawa almost, almost dropped the ball. He heard some of his team mates gasp and Sakuragi was trying to suppress his laughter, and not being able to do so,just went and laughed out loud. Did…did Sendoh Akira, stupidannoying _Sendoh Akira_just accuse him of being a bad basketball coach? Him?_Bad?_Right, that's it.

He saw Kira frown at Sendoh's statement and he made his way towards her and grabbed the ball from her hands. He passed it back to Sendoh with such force that Sendoh backed away two steps after catching it.

"Let's go." He said firmly to Kira.

Kira looked at him. "Go where?"

"Out."

"But it's freezing out."

"We'll eat."

"That doesn't change the fact that it's freezing out."

"We'll have ramen. Soup. Anything warm, anything you want."

Kira smiled. "Anything?"

Rukawa had just finished pulling on his pants up and had in his hand her coat. He was glaring at her. "Within reason." He said. "Put this on."

Kira put on her coat. "That's not everything." she said, then looking at him hopefully, as if making him change his mind and make him say 'oh, all right, everything' because that means that Kira will make him buy every cute stuff toy that she can put her hands on.

Rukawa was _thisclose_ to giving in, but instead said, irritably, "Just say what you want then."

"Ramen," she said, grinning,"lots of it."

"Pig."

"Am not!" she cried, then frowned. "But I don't –"

"My treat," he said patently. He grabbed her hand and without saying a word to anyone, went out the door. He saw Kira grab his stuff and gave a quick goodbye to everyone as they walked out the doors, leaving a shocked Shohoku team (shocked probably because it was the lengthiest conversation they had heard from him) and an amused Sendoh Akira.


	5. Chapter 5

You Mean, Rukawa has a Best Friend?

Chapter Five

Kira whistled as she walked on the sidewalk, away from a long hard day at school which included a particularly exhausting mathematics exam. She had her pink headphones on, Kaede's present last Christmas, which still amazes her, because she never thought that Rukawa would never even dare _touch _pink headphones, much less buy a pair, gift wrap them and hand them to her on Christmas Day. It amazed her that he even _found _pink headphones, which for the life of her couldn't find, no matter how many times she looked.

Speaking of her best friend, she had managed to not talk about Sendoh for the past two days now. It was making her immensely proud of herself, since most of the time, she would bore Rukawa to death with all her stories about how gorgeous he walks and the time he talked to her and blah, blah, blah...

She had refrained from talking about said crush because everytime she mentioned it, his, that is, Rukawa's, hands would compulsively close on whatever he's holding, most of the time, basketball. She was worried that it might just burst all of the sudden, so she decided, after mentioning Sendoh the third time, to stop mentioning the boy. She guessed that Rukawa was still not insulted by what Sendoh said the other day.

Said headphones were then in her head, blaring loud rock music in her ears, while she was whistling to the tune of the music. She then felt these headphones suddenly ripped from her head, and was so surprised that she turned around sharply and the headphones was lost from the man's grip and hit her in the chin.

"Hey, what the hell do you – oh," she said, angrily, then looking to see who tried to take her headphones, she felt her face become warm and wouldn't be surprised if her face wasn't as pink as her headphones, which were now dangling in her neck.

Said taker of headphones was none other than Sendoh Akira smiling at her sweetly and looking at the headphones. "Hi," he said, smiling a little wider.

"Er, hi," she answered back, smiling shyly. She then looked at him straight in the eye – her mother has always mentioned that it's best to look people straight in the eye when talking to them, makes you seem serious and really intent, or something like that – and said, "Sorry, I didn't think that it'd be you."

She wondered vaguely if Sendoh was still thinking of what happened the other day, but all wondering went out of her head as soon as Sendoh opened his mouth.

"That's okay," he said, "So, um, is Rukawa pissed off?"

Ah, so he _does _remember. Kira gave him a sort of apologetic smile. "Kind of."

Sendoh rubbed the back of his head. "Ah," he said, looking slightly guilty."I didn't mean it to come out in a mean way you know."

"You should be telling that to Kaede, not me." she said, not wanting to get into the middle of these two boys, but as one of them is her best friend and the other is her crush, she guessed that she was already in the middle without realizing it.

Sendoh smiled at her. "I'm sure that you'll be able to relay the message."

Kira looked at her knees. He was right, she would tell Kaede about this, and hopefully, she can tell him how immensely sorry Sendoh was, though he said nothing of the sort.

After a short silence, Sendoh suddenly said, "Nice headphones."

At this Kira grinned. She was rather fond of the headphones, because they were one of Kaede's seemingly impressive gifts – he always knows what to give her, always, and she thought that it was both sweet and intimidating, because it almost always trumps her present to him, almost because last Christmas, she gave him a basketball signed by the Miami Heat, his favorite team. She had to give up an arm and a leg for it but it was worth it, because that was the only time she had trumped his present and she gloated wholeheartedly for a week after that – and because they were pink. "Thanks," she said, "I like them too," she added, then wanted to punch herself for sounding incredibly dorky.

Sendoh nodded. "I'll bet you do," he said, "where'd you get it?"

Kira raised an eyebrow. "Why?" she asked teasingly, "you want one yourself?"

Sendoh laughed and shook his head quickly, "No, no, no," he said, "I have a cousin, it's her birthday on the weekend, and she likes pink so …"

Kira nodded, secretly relieved. It just won't seem right if Sendoh Akira, star player of the Ryonan basketball team, liked _pink _headphones. "Oh," she said, "well in that case you'd have to ask Kaede," they were walking together now, though neither of them seemed to notice that fact nor where they were going, "he got me these," she gestured to the headphones, "last Christmas."

Sendoh's eyebrows raised. "Really?" he asked. Kira nodded, smiling. "Wow, Rukawa huh, actually buying pink headphones."

Kira grinned. "Well you will too once you find out where he bought these," she answered. "Wonder what the cashiers would think?"

Sendoh looked at her. "Haha," he said sarcastically.

Kira looked at him. He was still looking at the headphones and she wondered exactly why. "Er," she said, "you okay Sendoh?"

"Call me Akira," he said, grinning, "Rukawa really gave that?"

Kira nodded vigorously, a small frown forming in her face. "It's not that hard to believe you know," she said, hoping she didn't sound rude.

"I didn't mean to sound so disbelieving – "

"Well you kinda are," she answered, then raised the eyebrows. "He's not as bad as you think, you know, Kaede, he's really nice, and always gives nice presents."

"Does he?" asked Sendoh indifferently, as if he didn't particularly wanted to talk about Rukawa at the moment, but he was the one who raised the subject of headphones, and Rukawa did give it to her, so this wasn't her fault.

She continued on. "Hmm," she said, "on my last birthday, he gave a leather bound journal, and the complete set of Roald Dahl books."

"That's nice of him," said Sendoh, who still looked like he didn't think of Rukawa as the generous type. Kira was starting to feel a bit pissed off at him, but then this was her crush, one that she had looked longingly at like some expensive stuff toy (which coincidentally Rukawa has also managed to give, two Christmases ago, a large and very adorable lion), and this thought in her mind made her feel a little more happy that Sendoh was walking beside her though she had no idea where they were going, they were just walking, plus he kept smiling at her a whole lot. "So when is your birthday?"

"Oh, far away," she answered.

"When?"

"August 10," she said, "months and months away."

Sendoh smiled, "August ten, right," he said, as if making a mental note. "got it, and I won't forget, promise."

Kira smiled, then suddenly looked around and said in surprise. "Oh, this is my house," she said, giggling, "good thing I looked around eh?"

Sendoh nodded and looked at her house. It was the normal middle class family house, wide and open, but not so large, the windows were all closed and the house was dark.

"My parents are out at work," she said, looking at Sendoh, "so I have the key to the house." She was fighting whether she should let Sendoh in, but they haven't even gone out yet and already she would let him in? To find something else to say, she pointed at the house next door, "that there is Kaede's house."

Sendoh turned to the right, and saw the other house, his eyes widening a bit. The house surprised Kira at the beginning too. It was easily more than twice the size of her own house and everything looked like it was made of marble.

It didn't just look big from the outside, it was incredibly huge on the inside. When she and Kaede were six, he invited her in his house and was in awe at how large it was. They spent a good long hour playing one single game of hide and seek, Kaede was it, and she thought he had given up on her, but then she found out that there were so many places to hide he had been looking all this time. He evn had some of the maids go and help him.

Kira saw the look in Sendoh's face. "I know," she said, grinning at him as he looked at her. "When I first went there, I lost Kaede and got lost. Mind you, I was six."

Sendoh grinned back, then his watch rang. He looked at it, then sighed. "I have to go back," he said, looking at her, "Uozmi's scheduled practice now and I'll be late."

Kira nodded. "Go ahead," she said, secretly relieved that she didn't have to think about inviting him to come in her house. "Thanks for, er, walking me home." Kira suddenly had the notion that that was what he really wanted to do.

Sendoh's smile seemed to suggest that this was so. "My pleasure," he said, waving goodbye. "Bye then."

"See you around then," she said.

"I certainly hope so!" he cried before running all the way back to school.

Kira couldn't help but grin as she pushed her key in the door. She opened the door excitedly and rushed to her room, intent on telling someone the events that just happened, and since Kaede won't be home until later tonight, and he probably won't like it, butshe'll tell anyway,she would tell her adorable lion, which she calls Kae-chan, who we all know is named after the giver. She didn't think that there was anything wrong with talking to adorable toy lions, especially when the lion itself was as large as you.


	6. Chapter 6

Hello people!

neko11lover: I'm glad you're reviewing again, thank you! Um, this is gonna be RukawOC, hope u don't mind, keep reading k? I have the story all worked out up until the end, promise. U from pinas right? Any chance of mangoes and bagoong? Hehe..kidding.

keia mizuki: or is it indeed...thanks for the review

Miss Hachigatsu Kuroi: I hope u don't mind that this is the norm for me, don't know what kind of twist that u like, but I assure you none of mine will be dull, so keep reading!

dollarbanks: hello! and thanks for reading! continue, eh?

Anyway, I thought that this is such a cruddy chapter that I think I might put the next chapter up right away afterwards. What do you guys think?

On with the story!

You mean, Rukawa has a best friend?

Chapter Six

"So," said Rukawa, in the tone of a father scolding a child for something he or she did very very badly, "Sendoh walked you home."

Kira was fixing her hair, looking at a mirror. Reflected in the mirror was Kaede, who was sitting in his bed, a basketball in his hand. He looked at the ball for a few seconds beforeshe saw his reflected eyes glaring into her own.

They were in Rukawa's bedroom. It was a large room, and as the larger it is, is was more of a complete and utter mess than most rooms. Clothes were strewn everywhere. Mostly it was light shirts, shorts and socks. On the corner of the room were a couple of pairs of basketball shoes. The window on one side of the room was wide open, to let a light breeze in. The walls were painted a rich light blue, and on the bottom of walls there were drawings, done in paint of mountains and flowers and basketballs and hand prints. He and Kira did those when they were nine and ten, and every now and then, Kira would just go and add another, this time more artistically beautiful drawings, mostly of roses and basketball courts.

"To accompany the basketballs," she would say.

On the farther corner of the room stood a shelf full of basketball trophies and memorabilia, the center of it was the autographed Miami Heat basketball from Kira last Christmas, sorrounding it was a bunch of trophies from junior high. Hanging next to the shelf was an acoustic guitar. Rukawa would rather jump off a cliff than be heard playing. The only person so far who has heard him was Kira and the people around the house. Kira taught him how to play, but there would be no chance in hell that that musical instrument would replace the game of basketball.

Rukawa ripped his eyes from the guitar and turned to Kira again, who had still not answered the statement he made and instead focusing on her reflection in the mirror. She was running her fingers through her hair, and then looking closely at her eyes.

"You look fine," muttered Rukawa, after she ran her finger on the outline of her lips.

Kira turned around to face him directly, and amused smile in her face. "I didn't know you care." she said.

"Hn."

Kira smiled, and - with one last look at her reflection - sat by the foot of Rukawa's bed, catching the ball easily thrown by him.

"You didn't answer."

"Answer what?"

Rukawa glared at her. "Sendoh walked you home yesterday."

Kira nodded, trying hard to conceal the delight in her face.

"Why?"asked Rukawa coldly.

Kira's smile faded. Evidently, Rukawa still hasn't forgotten that he was insulted by Ryonan's ace player."Erm," she said slowly, "he wanted to?"

Rukawa continued to glare. "Not good enough."

"Since when was anything Sendoh did good enough to you?" she asked with a slightly amused smile in her face.

Rukawa's glared deepened.

"Look," she said, her smile faltering and sighing, "I didn't even realize that he was walking me home! He was just poof! there all of the sudden and we started talking and then the next thing I know we were in front of my house!"

Rukawa snorted_. A likely story,_ he thought. He even wanted to point his finger accusingly at her and exclaim those words but he knew from the look of incredulity on Kira's face that she was telling the truth. Besides, it wasn't like Kira to lie. Maybe stretch the truth a little bit, but never lie. Besides, he catches it way too easily when she lies.

"Anyway," she continued, looking straight into his eyeswhenhe didn't say anything, "all we talked about was you."

Rukawa looked at her, not giving anything away, but he's sure that she knew that his interest was about to perk up. "Me?"

Kira nodded, smiling, "Hmmm," she said, "though I wasn't too sure whether he was happy about it..."

Rukawa inwardly smirked to himself. He was _sure _Sendoh wasn't at all happy about it, and that cheered him up a bit. "Glad to know you still think about me when I'm not around."

Kira gave him a wicked grin. "Anytime."

She passed the ball back to him, and he caught it just as easily. Rukawa looked at Kira. She looked like she wanted to say something but didn't know how to phrase it, or she would rather not say it, but heck what are best friends for but to have the entire life of one blurted to the other so he said, "Spit it out."

"Are you mad at Sendoh?" she said, looking at him.

"Mad?" asked Rukawa sitting up straight, "why the hell would I be mad? He's only showing up in practices that he need not show up in, he's only trying to monopolize my best friend's attention, he _only _told me that I'm a bad basketball coach and he only had the decency to walk you home when that is clearly my job, now why would I be mad?"

Kira blinked at him. "Wow," she said, "that could be, like, a paragraph."

Rukawa narrowed his eyes.

Kira blinked again. "Well I'm glad that you're not mad." She was smiling at him, as if to say _don't be mad anymore._

Rukawa glared at her.

"C'mon, Kaede!" she exclaimed. "It's not like he led me into a dark alley and tried to rape me or anything!"

Rukawa's eyes widened a bit at the thought. "HE _WHAT?_"

Kira slapped a hand in her forehead. "Kidding!" she said hastily. "I was kidding! Take a joke, sheesh..."

They were both silent for a minute. He continued to play with the ball for a while Kira went to the farther end of the room and took the guitar. She went back and after fixing it so that it was in the right tune, played a few strums until she was making a light rhythm.

"What's that?" asked Rukawa.

Kira shrugged. "Just strumming," she said, then paused for a second to look at him. "You know, walking me home isn't exactly your job."

Rukawa looked at her.

"You've never walked me home since you started basketball practice."

"Yes, I have," said Rukawa, feeling slightly offended, "when you come to Shohoku and watch practice, I walk you home all the time. And when we have games over there at your school, I walk you home."

Kira smiled. "All right, so you walk me home at times, when it's convenient to you," she said, "but that doesn't mean that it's necessarily your job. I'm a big girl now, I can walk home by myself."

Rukawa looked at her. True, now that he thought about it,he hardly walked her home, which he always thought was wrong of him, but he couldn't afford to miss practice. Hey wait a minute…

"Sendoh took you home," he said suddenly, "and he had baketball practice!"

"Well yeah, but he said he doesn't mind being late," said Kira, shrugging,"while you, my bestest friend in the whole wide world, make basketball your life."

"That's not true," lied Rukawa, looking out into the sky.

Kira grinned. "Ah, Kaede, but it is," she said, in a deep breathy tone, as if pretending to be wise. "And don't lie to me, bestest friend in the whole wide world, you don't look at me when you lie and I don't like it." She added, and stuck out her tongue when he turned to her again.

Rukawa placed the ball beside him in the bed, though he had no intention of sleeping with the thing, he wasn't _that _obsessed. "Does it bother you?" he mumbled.

"Kaede, if it bothered me, you would've known a very long time ago." she answered.

"So it doesn't bother you."

Kira looked highly amused. "No Kaede, it doesn't." she said, "why? What would've happened if it bothered me?"

Rukawa shrugged. "I might walk you home more often." he mumbled.

Kira laughed. "Yeah, that's highly likely." There was a slight sarcasm in her tone.

"I would!" he said defensively, arms crossed in his chest, which was slughtly puffed. "I'll be late for practice, but I can always catch up."

"Yeah, sure," she said.

"What?"

"Are you doing this because Sendoh did it too?" she asked suspiciously, her green eyes narrowed.

_Yes_, he thought, but, "No." he grumbled. He would not stoop that low, or he wouldn't tell Kira he had stooped down that low. "If you want me to walk you home all you have to do is ask."

Kira grinned rather slyly. "Careful there, Kaede," she said, "you might just fall in love with me."

Rukawa had no reply to this.

After about five seconds in what looked like an unforeseen shock in Rukawa's face, a pillow hit him. When the pillow was peeled off his face, the picture in front of him revealed a grinning Kira, looking at him. "I was just kidding Kaede," she said, "just kidding."

"Hn." he muttered, glaring slightly.

Kira had returned to strumming, playing a song he heard from one of Kira's CDs in her room. She was humming along, and every now and then words would burst out from her mouth. She would also look up at him and smile every once in a while.

_Careful Kaede, you might just fall in love with me._

The words echoed in his head, but mentally he shook it off. A girl would just complicate things. All he had was basketball. Basketball and Kira.

Kira and Basketball.

No, Basketball, _then_ Kira.

Basketball.

Always put basketball first.

Kira.

_Careful Kaede, you might just fall in love with me._

No, I won't, he thought stubbornly, as long as there's basketball.

Kira smiled softly at him again, eyes bright and twinkling.

Oh, holy crap.


	7. Chapter 7

keia mizuki: thanks for reviewing, I'm glad you're liking where this is going. Keep reading (and reviewing, eh?)

Hey guys, review naman o! In english, please review, it means a lot to me when you do. Keeps me going and stuff. Thanks so much

On to the story!

You Mean, Rukawa has a best friend

Chapter Seven

Kira smiled as she looked up. Standing in front of her was Sendoh Akira, in a smart dark suit, one hand holding her hand and the other in her waist. It was then that she noticed that she was wearing a silky red dress. Music was playing somewhere and they were dancing, just the two of them. She smiled as he smiled back, and he was beginning to lean in, still looking at her...

_Tap, tap, tap._

Someone was tapping behind her. Sendoh didn't seem to notice, as he leaned in closer. She chose to ignore it, but...

_Tap, tap, tap._

The tapping was harder now, and she was losing her patience with it, then...

_TAP, TAP, TAP._

Then the tapping became shaking. Violent shaking.

Kira's eyes flew open. Sendoh had disappeared, and she drowsily looked around. She was wearing pajamas again, not a dress, and she was in her own room, not a ballroom, and standing by the side of her bed was -

"Kaede!" she cried, looking indignantly at him with sleepy eyes.He was still shaking her."What. Are. You. Doing. Here?" She looked out the window. The sun hasn't even risen yet and when she saw the illuminated clock it showed that it's five thirty in the morning. She groaned.

Rukawa was indeed standing by the side of the bed, in a coat and pants, though Kira could see that his basketball uniform was peeking underneath, so it was without doubt that underneath his pants were his shorts. He was also holding a bag, no doubt with towels and his ball. "Were you dreaming?" he asked suddenly.

Kira yawned, and smiled at the thought of her dream. It was one of the dreams that she was happy she remembered.

"Well?" demanded Rukawa.

Kira looked at him after rubbing her eyes. "As a matter of fact, I was." she said. "Why?"

"Is it about Sendoh?"

"How the hell do you know that?" she demanded, thanking the gods it was still dark and he couldn't see her blush.

Kira wasn't sure, but she felt that Rukawa was glaring. He always glares anyway, so what else is new? "You were muttering his name."

"So _you _interrupted my dreams." said Kira, then rolled to the side and fell back again. "I'm going back to bed, see if I can get my dream back."

"Oh no you're not." Rukawa dropped his bag, and grabbed one of her arms, and pulled her up so she was sitting in her bed.

Kira moaned. "Why?" she complained. "It's too early, the sun hasn't risen yet..."

"Exactly." said Rukawa. "Get dressed. We're going."

"Going where?" she asked sleepily.

"To the courts."

"But it's too early..." she whined, yawning. "I wanna go back to beeeeeed..."

"No," said Rukawa sharply. "By the time you're ready, the sun would have risen completely, and we'll be the first there in the courts, no annoying Sendohs or stupid red headed freaks there to bother me."

"Then go by yourself.." she whined again.

She felt his glare again. "I want you there." he muttered.

At this, Kira stopped yawning to get a good look at her best friend. He was staring defiantly back at her, as if waiting for an answer. She responded by giving him a small smile. "Okay, Kaede, I'll get ready," she said. Kaede was not the type to show that he wanted a girl to be in his practices, so this rare event made her quite happy. It was one of those small things that he does at times that she just can't resist."How did you get in anyway?"

"Your mother let me in." he answered shortly.

"Oh," she said, rising from the bed, and stretching. She made a mental note to tell her mother that he, Rukawa Kaede, no matter how close they were, should never be allowed in her room before the sun has decided to riseand greet the new day. She doubted that her mother or her father for that matter would listen, but it was worth the try. "Now, get out, get out," she was pushing him out the door. "Wait for me downstairs, I'll be down in twenty minutes."

She had turned Kaede around so he was facing the door and was pushing him towards it. He looked over his shoulder back at her.

"Make it ten." he muttered.

"You're out of your bloody mind." she answered, and slammed the door in his face.

* * *

Thirty minutes later, Kira came down, all fresh and newly dressed, in dark denim jeans, pink shirt under a thick blue overcoat. Hanging in her shoulder was a large guitar case inside of which was, undoubtedly, a guitar. She smiled as she came down, which was in complete contrast to what Rukawa was giving her. 

He was giving her a sharp, cutting glare, causing Kira's smile to falter a bit.

"You. Said. _Twenty_." he said, emphasizing each word.

"Did I?" she asked casually, and quite mischievously, "Sorry, but you did wake me up at five thirty in the bloody morning." Considering the fact that she was a girl, thirty minutes was hardly a drop in the bucket.

Rukawa glared even harder. Apparently, he thought she didn't think that time was of the essence.

She gave him her sweetest smile. Rukawa's glare softened, just a teensy little tiny tiny bit.

"Come on," she said, grabbing his hand, "before stupid red headed freaks and annoying Sendohs might beat you in the courts."

"Funny," he muttered, though he didn't laugh.

Once they were out the door and walking through the snowless, but nevertheless cold sidewalk, Kira looked up at Kaede and asked, "How do you know that the courts are open today anyway?"

"I checked." he said shortly. "They open at six o clock in the morning every day."

"Oh," said Kira, looking in front of her, "Okay," she answered then, "you mean we're gonna do this every morning!"

Rukawa didn't answer. She didn't take it as a good sign but decided to put it behind her. There's nothing she can do about it anyway.

They walked on in silence, not that Kira minded. She was used to Rukawa being silent for long stretches, and it wasn't a type of uncomfortable silence, it was a nice silence, a silence that didn't demanded one to force conversation with another, and for that she was grateful.

Still, she wondered sometimes what Kaede would be like if he was more talkative, at least to her, and not answer her in short quick phrases with tones that almost always indicate that he would be the one to end conversations. But people often reminded her that she should count herself lucky. Rukawa actually _talks _to her in more than grunts and constant mutterings.

Still, she was a girl, a talkative girl at that, if he turned out to be at least as talkative as Mitsui-sempai is, she wondered what would have happened to them...

"Kira."

Kira almost jumped, still lost in her thoughts, and looked at Rukawa, slightly surprised.

"Sorry if I woke you up." he said, but didn't look at her.

Kira smiled up at him, though she wasn't sure that he noticed, and looked ahead. "It's okay," she said brightly, "this way I won't need an alarm clock anymore."

He didn't answer.

"It makes a nice change too," she continued, "You waking me up."

"If you say so." he muttered.

They were now in the courts, having passed by what looked like the man who unlocked the doors. They both answered his good morning greeting and Rukawa immediately opened the door.

Instant warmth was felt by Kira as they came in. _Heaters must be new,_ she thought, as she looked at Rukawa and saw that he was in complete basketball uniform. Kira blinked a few times. How did he do that? She didn't even see him remove his pants or coat! Not that she wanted to see, she reminded herself as she felt a small blush creep in her face.

Rukawa must have noticed. "What's up with you?" he asked.

Kira quickly shook her head. "Nothing, nothing," she said, smiling.

Rukawa looked at her for a second before turning to the basketball net and shooting the ball neatly into the basket in his first try.

"As always," she murmured. She clapped loudly and even whooped. Rukawa gave her a look, a look that she smiled at. "What?"

"Nothing." he said.

They didn't talk for a while so Kira decided to open the guitar case to reveal her guitar. She had longed for a guitar ever since they were ten when she saw someone playing beautifully in their Christmas concert in school. Since then she had taught herself how to play, with the help of her father, who turned out to know how to play magnificently, and she had been saving her money to buy herself one. Having bought a lovely acoustic guitar, which, much to her delight, was baby pink, there was never a day that she wouldn't take it out and play it. She had even managed to teach Rukawa how to play the guitar, and it turned out that he was very good at it, though through his glare she knew that he would strangle himself first before anyone gets a chance to hear him play.

She looked at Kaede as she strummed the strings. Kaede stopped and looked at it, then turned back to the game. Kira smiled. She had assumed that that kind of reaction meant that he didn't mind, so she played loudly, though not loud enough to break his concentration.

There were times when she thought that Kaede himself was getting into the music himself. The ball would be bouncing in the rhythm of what she was playing and once she had seen Kaede's foot tap to the music, though she would never mention it. She didn't want to anger him. The last time they argued, she ended up going to Ryonan High.

She frowned suddenly. She strummed again. That wasn't right, she thought, and strummed again. No, definitely not right. She moved her fingers differently. No, still not right. She glared at her guitar and tried to remember the right chords, but somehow it was slipping from her mind. She strummed again.

"That's not right,"

Kira looked to see that Kaede had stopped shooting and was looking at her guitar.

"I know," she muttered, "but I don't remember the right chords."

She strummed again, trying a different chord.

"Still not right." said Rukawa, now standing next to the bench where she was sitiing. "Give it here."

Kira gave him the guitar, fixed his fingers in what looked to Kira was the right chords and strummed.

"Oh," she said, grinning, "of course."

But Kaede wasn't stopping. He continued, and was playing the gutar beautifully, while Kira tried not to smile but couldn't help herself. She started humming to the music, and then she couldn't hold it anymore.

_Foolish heart, hear me calling_

_Stop before, you start falling_

_Foolish heart, heed my warning_

_You've been wrong before_

_Don't be wrong anymore _

The sound of clapping interrupted their little music session, and made Kira and Rukawa look sharply to the doors.


	8. Chapter 8

**dollarbanks**: thanks so much! I will!

**keia mizuki:** well...you're gonna find out right now aren't ya? hehehe

So on to the story! Please review and read, okay, though again, not neccessarily in that order.

You Mean, Rukawa has a best friend?

Chapter Eight

Rukawa visibly paled as he heard the clapping from behind him. It wasn't a slow obnoxious clap, but a rigorous, enthusiastic kind, the kind he gets from Kira after finishing a piece in the guitar or scoring a particularly hard earned shot.

Kira must have noticed the paleness in his already pale face, because she looked at him with a slightly worried look. She leaned to the left past him and lookedat the door.Her mouth formed a small 'o'.

Rukawa bent down to her as he pushed the guitar back at her hands. As he bent, Kira whispered in his ear, "It's the red headed freak."

Rukawa wanted to groan out loud, but instead did it inwardly. He did close his eyes, a sign that shows that he was irritated, and then opened it to glare at Kira.

"Hey, it's not my fault they heard you," she said, "and they heard me sing, you think you got it bad?"

"I don't know what you're talking about, you sing well." Rukawa muttered back.

Kira rolled her eyes, but did smile at the comment.

Finally, feeling like he's back going to break if he doesn't straightened up soon, he turned to the door.

He almost wanted to strangle Kira.

It was Sakuragi by the door, but he wasn't alone. Next to him was Akagi-sempai's sister, Haruko, who was looking starry eyed at him, a slight blush in her face. Behind them was Akagi, Mitsui and Ryoga, all with either amused smiles or large grins in their faces. As he looked, he saw the entire Shohoku Basketball team was staring at the two of them and at the guitar in Kira's arms.

Rukawa rounded on Kira. "You said it was only the red headed freak!" he said loud enough for the entire gym to hear.

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING A RED HEADED FREAK KITSUNE!" shouted Sakuragi, charging at him.

They squabbled for a good five minutes before the seniors, Akagi and Mitsui, decided that it was time to end the squabble and separate the two promising athletes.

Rukawa glared at Kira for one last time before turning back to face the rest of the team, who was huddled up to form a strategy. Their game with Ryonan was after all coming up next weekend.

Ayako and Haruko sat next to Kira, who had stowed away her guitar and placed it undrneath the bench. Rukawa playing alone was nothing new to her and watching him play with the rest of the team makes the game more interesting, more fun and more exciting.

Kira kept looking sideways to where Ayako and Haruko were talking, though in rather small voices, and Ayako, who was facing her, kept shooting glances at her. Kira took a deep breath and turned to Ayako, and said, "Can I help you?"

Ayako seemed to have been taken by surprise. She turned Haruko so she and her would be facing Kira. Haruko was still rather pink in the cheeks after staring at Rukawa for a long time and Ayako was eyeing her up and down.

"I don't bite you know," said Kira brightly.

Haruko blushed even further, and was fidgeting with the end of her shirt. Kira looked at her, waiting for her to talk, but she didn't seem to want to say anything. Kira was about to say that something when Haruko suddenly burst out loud -

"Are you Rukawa-kun's girlfriend?"

"NANI!" cried Kira and Rukawa and Sakuragi at the same time. Kira even saw that Rukawa had dropped the ball that he was holding. Sakuragi's upper lip was twitching, and was staring incredulously at Haruko. Ayako looked incredibly interested, Kira thought that that maybe what they she and Haruko were muttering about.

Haruko turned to the court, where many of the players were now staring at them. She was an even deeper shade of pink now.

Kira had took a deep breath to recover. It wasn't the first time that someone had asked her that, it's just that it's been a long time since someone did ask her about Rukawa.

"Well, are you?" asked Haruko, this time in a more calm voice.

Kira smiled at her. "You like him, don't you?"

Haruko was now red.

Kira smiled even wider. "Kaede and I are childhood buddies," she answered, "best friends, neighbors, constant thorns in each other's spines, we're not a couple."

Haruko looked up hopefully. "Really?"

Kira nodded. "Hmm.." she said, "Don't worry, I'll even put in a good word for you."

"You will?"

"Sure," she said brightly, though she doubted whether Kaede would be interested. She didn't say that to Haruko, though, the girl looked like all her dreams had just came true all at the same time.

Haruko grinned. "I'm Akagi Haruko, by the way," she said, "first year, Shohoku High."

"Yamato Kira, freshie, Ryonan High."

Haruko looked surprised. "We're playing you next week!"

Kira nodded. "Hmm," she said, "I'm sure that it'll be - "

"KITSUNE!"

Kira, Haruko, and Ayako had all turned to the court, where Sakuragi, was once again, causing tirade to stop practice.

Rukawa shot the ball neatly into the basket before turning his attention to the red head.

"ONE ON ONE!" he cried, "NOW!"

Rukawa blinked at him. "Doahou."

"NANI!"

Rukawa spared him one last glance before turning to the basket again, and shooting the ball.

"He's very good, isn't he?" breathed Haruko.

Kira grinned. "Your school's lucky to have him."

"How come you're in Ryonan anyway?" asked Ayako, who has since now, only been listening curiously. "If you're close and all?"

"Oh," said Kira, smiling, "well, at the end of junior high, we kinda fought, well actually, it was war between the two of us and we both got so mad at each other that I decided to go to Ryonan while he went to Shohoku. We made up a month after school started so we couldn't transfer to the other's school."

Ayako looked like she wanted details.

"I don't wanna talk about it," added Kira hastily.

By the courts, they could see that Sakuragi was engaged in a tussle with Rukawa again, and was threatening to throw balls at him. They chose to ignore him.

"So," said Ayako curiously, a small smile in her face, "what are Ryonan practices like? Do you any from the team?"

Kira smiled, thinking of Sendoh. "Well, we're not close," she began.

"It's Sendoh, isn't it?" asked Haruko suddenly.

Kira smiled. "Stop looking at me like that, it's not like -"

But whatever it wasn't like, they never found out, because at that moment, a ball came hurtling out from the side of Kira and hit her squarely in her left eye.

"KIRA!"

Kira's hands went instinctively on her eye as she said, "Itai..."

Her left eye was shut completely, but her other eye was wide open, and she could see after a few seconds of blurness, Rukawa in front of her.

"Can you see properly?" he asked her, placing a hand over her own hand that was above her eye.

Kira nodded, but her eyes were watering. It was only then that the pain was registering, and she started to feel the tears that were about to fall in her good eye.

"You're gonna cry aren't you?" he muttered, an eyebrow raised in her direction.

"It's hurts a lot!" she cried, tears now slowly falling.

"Shh..." said Rukawa, wiping the first few tears that were now running in her cheek. He sat beside her, his hand over her shoulder as he sort of cuddled her. Her bruised eye was covered in Rukawa's chest. Her hand was still in her eye, and saw that Akagi had thrown him an ice pack. "Here," he said, "put this over you eye."

Kira looked up at him, finally managing to stop the flow of tears. "My first black eye." she said, trying to force a smile.

"It better not happen again." he muttered. Kira saw that he was glaring at Sakuragi, who was being told off severely by their captain.

"You're not gonna beat him up are you?" asked Kira, who was now sitting up, as Haruko was looking at her, slightly worriedly.

"Who's gonna stop me?"

"You can't!" she cried. "You need him for the game next week," then she thought, "oh wait, go on beat him up that way we win." She grinned, then winced.

Rukawa eyed her slightly, but chose to follow the first advice and instead of beating him up, just gave him one of the iciest glares that Kira had seen him manage.

After a while, Rukawa had left back to the courts. The cold ice was numbing the pain, though Kira was sure that by tonight, a black eye would have formed there, and she didn't want to find out what would happen on school come Monday.

Sakuragi had come up to her to apologize, or more like Rukawa had forced him to go up to her and apologize. Kira accepted, and Sakuragi had walked away, shouting, "We're still gonna beat your school this weekend!"

At the other side of the court, Rukawa was forced to agree.


	9. Chapter 9

Hey guys!

**crazy-chick14**: New reviewer! Glomp! Erm, sorry, hehe, thanks for reviewing! And yes I will continue to update. I don't think I've left number 1 spot in the page for a month now...yay...

**keia mizuki**: EYES REALLY WIDE Are you crazy? By all means (of transportation), review! You are not annoying me seriously, I live for people like you! Thanks for reviewing, and I hope this update is soon enough! Review this chapter too!

**Neko11lover**: Yay manga't bagoong! sorry, my one weakness hehe...Anyway, since we don't know much about Rukawa's personal life I thought that I might liven him up a little with him knowing how to play the guitar. If it's in any way too much out of character for anyone, let me know and I'll personally apologize to you and tweak the story a little.

Anyway, guess what? Go on, guess.

No...

Erm, no...

Hell no!

Okay, give up? No...

No...

Okay, I'll tell you! I finished this story! That is, I mean, I've finished writing this story! I'm also in the process of writing a SendohOC fic, because people he is so not gay!I'm still thinking if I should post it after this one, or post it right now, you'll know soon enough. I might just post it right after I update this story! Anyway, this story is 25 chapters long, I hope that's long enough for you people. Most of it's uploaded, and I upload one every five or so days, just so you people know

ANyway, on to the story!

* * *

You Mean, Rukawa has a Best Friend?

Chapter Nine

By the time the next weekend came around, all talk from both Shohoku and Ryonan High was basketball. Who they think gonna win, who has the better players, and of course, which player is hotter.

By this time, Kira's black eye has faded quite significantly, although she still has to use a concealer to cover it up completely. Sendoh has practically swooped down on her Monday morning when she sported the fresh bruise.

"Who did that to you?" he demanded fiercely.

Kira just smiled and said, "Relax," she said, "no harm done."

"Whaddya mean_, no harm done_?" he said, "You've got a large bruise in your eye!"

"It's okay, it doesn't hurt ... as much."

"Who did that to you?" he demanded again.

"A basketball," she said smoothly.

Sendoh blinked at her. "Okay," he said, "who threw the basketball at you."

"Sakuragi Hanamichi."

"Oh," said Sendoh, then after a moment's hesitation, "did Rukawa beat him up?"

Kira looked at him, he looked like he wanted to beat Sakuragi up too. "He wanted to," she said, "but I stopped him."

"But," he stuttered, "why?"

Kira frowned. "Now why would you want to beat the man up?"

"Because he threw a basketball at you!"

"Aw, you care." she said, fluttering her eyelids exaggeratedly. Sendoh threw her an amused look.

A few moments later, Kira had him convince to not beat up Sakuragi the next time that they meet. Rather, he made him promise that his team would be the one winning on Saturday.

* * *

Whether it's coincidence or not, Rukawa had made the same promise. 

"Sendoh made the same promise," said Kira, "Monday afternoon."

Rukawa shot her a very sharp annoyed look. "How do you know that?"

Kira looked at him incredulously. "Well we do go at the same school, and he does talk to me every now and then, I'm bound to catch a few things."

Rukawa didn't answer. They were headed for the basketball court, right in between the two schools, and they were accompanied by the Shohoku Team. They were, however, a good few metres away from them, so they are able to talk freely without the uncomfortableness of being heard and therefore, no interruption from any of the other players.

Kira had promised Rukawa that she would be cheering him on. "As always," she said, grinning, "C'mon, when have I _not _cheered you on?"

This was true. Kira had made it a point to not do anything on the days that Rukawa had basketball games. It was her one strict rule, and so far, she has never broken it. Nor she plans to.

"Bet," muttered Rukawa.

Kira looked at him, a slight smile in her face. They always did this. They made a bet, usually with ludicrous consequences, on whether or not Shohoku would win the game. Rukawa would, of course, bet that they would win, and would think up ridiculous, and to him and others, highly entertaining consequences for Kira. She would do the same. So far, Rukawa had made her run around the entire Shohoku High in her Ryonan Uniform with a banner saying "shohoku is the best - Sendoh's a loser" and he had made her go up on the rooftop of her own high school, sing the national anthem, while dancing the macarena.

It was one of those times that Rukawa actually showed imagination.

When Shohoku lost to Kainan, however, Kira thought that the best way to get back at Rukawa was to make him do the one thing that he dreaded most: acknowledge his fans' presence. To do this, she made him go up to each and every girl that watched him practice, and kiss each of them lightly on the cheek. Rukawa had hoped that there won't be too many girls coming, but someone, and he had a very good idea who, spread the word around that every girl who would watch Rukawa practice will get a kiss from the said boy.

Rukawa refused to talk to Kira for two whole days after that.

"Okay," nodded Kira, "on what?"

"Dinner."

Kira looked crestfallen. "Dinner?" she said. "Why the heck are we betting on dinner?"

Rukawa looked at her. "I'm going to be hungry."

"Well, so will I, but I don't want to bet on dinner." she said. "That's...lame."

"No it's not."

"Yes it is."

"Dinner is delicious."

"It makes for a lame bet."

"I want to bet on dinner."

"I don't."

"You're being stupid."

"You're being lame."

Rukawa glared at her. "Dinner," he muttered. "End. of. Discussion."

Kira glared back, but words didn't find her mouth. After all, when Rukawa starts glaring like that, it's best that you shut up. She nodded after a while, then said, "Fine, you guys win, I'll buy you dinner. If you lose, you buy me dinner."

"Done." Rukawa looked at her. "Now, was that so hard?"

"Lame."

Rukawa glared.

* * *

Having established the bet, which now included the buying of dessert, Kira seated herself in one of the closest seats possible. She saw that she would be facing the Shohoku Bench and she grinned and waved enthusiastically when she saw Rukawa looking at her. His fans were there of course, and at one point she caught them glaring at her, probably hoping that they could send her to hell and never come back. She forced herself not to glare back and instead get more comfortable in her seat. 

"How's the black eye?" a voice rang out below.

Kira leaned in, and saw that Sendoh was looking at her, a smile in his face. Kira grinned. "Almost gone," she said.

"Good." he answered, and didn't say anything else anymore, because the referee whistled that the game was about to start.

* * *

Akagi and Uozmi were going to jump from the ball. Rukawa glared particularly hard at Sendoh, a glare that he returned with a casual look. Before the referee threw the ball, he turned to give one last look to Kira before he let himself go completely lost in the game. He relaxed when she saw him grin in his direction. 

As usual, the game was packed with many exciting moments, moments that made the jaw drop of even the most experienced and best players in the district. Rukawa had a vague glimpse of Shoyo and Kainan basketball team watching the game, and knew that they were assessing it, but he didn't care. All he cared about was winning this game and rubbing it in annoying Sendoh's face.

There were moments that made the audience jump up, Kira most especially, because she was cheering for both the Shohoku and the Ryonan team. Rukawa didn't mind, she does that all the time. He made a particularly difficult shot, involving a fake to dodge one player, running a circle around another and then passing through a small gap between two other players before shooting the ball. He heard Kira shout her delight and even saw her stand up, unaware that some thought that she was making a complete fool of herself.

* * *

Sendoh saw the reaction Kira had when Rukawa made that almost impossible shot, and a small frown formed in his face. I can do that too. he thought. To prove it, he dodged Mitsui, Ryota, faked Sakuragi, before dodging Akagi and shooting the ball without the effort of it all showing. 

The crowd roared its approval, and Sendoh turned for a brief moment to where Kira was, watching a bit awe struck, and afterwards cheering just as loud as she did when Rukawa hit his shot.

Sendoh couldn't hide a smile.

* * *

Rukawa fought the urge not to punch Sendoh senseless right then and there. 

He accepted that the shot was amazing, almost impossible in fact, but he also knew that he could have made that shot in his sleep. He wasn't going to be outdone by one Sendoh Akira, oh no, he's too good for that.

With this thought in mind, he went, with the ball, to the other side of the court, without passing it to anyone, dodging almost the entire team of Ryonan, and slam dunked the ball.

He turned to Sakuragi, who was shouting obscenities at him, something about stealing his shot, before turning to Kira, whose delight was written all over her face.

Beat that, Sendoh.

* * *

"Um, Maki-sempai," said Nobunaga Kiyota, who was sitting next to the captain, but with eyes still glued to the game, and occasionally to the jumping girl a few rows below them, "is it just me or is Sendoh and Rukawa a little more, fired up, than usual?" 

"I noticed that too," murmured Jin.

"See that girl in front?" asked Maki, "the red head?"

"How can you not?" asked Kiyota incredulously. The girl was loud, very loud, and was cheering on every shot that was made down at the courts, which was a little weird to him. "What's so special about her?"

"I'm not sure yet," began Maki, "but I'm pretty sure that she's the reason that those two are pretty fired up today."

Below, Kira was cheering on another shot made by Sendoh, only to be followed up by a three pointer by Rukawa.

"What? They're fighting over that girl?"

"They're not fighting," said Jin calmly, "but they are seeking for her attention. Haven't you noticed that everytime they make a shot, they both look at her?"

Kiyota's arms were crossed in his chest. "Well yeah," he said, "but isn't that a bit distracting?"

"If she's distracting," said Maki, "then I don't know how they play without her."

* * *

Shohoku: 85 Ryonan: 81 

Kira waited for the teams to shake hands before making her way down to the courts. Rukawa's fan club were still shouting themselves hoarse, and some even had tears in their eyes. She ignored them as she passed. When she made her way down at the courts, Rukawa was waiting for her, a slightly haughty look that he knew she knew that she only recognized.

Kira grinned at him, before flunging herself in his arms and whispered "congratulations" in his ear. They almost fell, but thankfully, Rukawa managed to take a step back and balance him and Kira's entire weight that he was now carrying.

"You're heavy," he breathed as he put her back down.

Kira stuck out her tongue, and hit him lightly in the head, a hit that was returned as good naturedly as she gave it.

"Did you see that?"

"She hit him!"

"He hit her!"

"And he's not glaring!"

"He is so hot."

"Er," said Kira, looking up at her bestfriend, "do you ever feel like you're being talked about?"

Rukawa looked at her, quite dully. "All the time."

Kira hit him again.

"Hey."

Kira and Rukawa both looked to the direction of the voice and saw Sendoh looking at the two of them, looking sheepish. Kira's face broke into a small smile before Rukawa pushed her behind him.

"What?" spat Rukawa.

"Erm," said Sendoh, "I just wanna say good game. And congratulations." He took out his hand and waited for Rukawa to shake it.

Kira poked him at the back, many times and increasing in intensity,a sign that she wanted him to take Sendoh's hand. After about fifteen seconds of glaring at said hand, he took it, didn't shake it, and immediately let go. He then turned to Kira. "I'll go change," he murmured, as if he didn't want Sendoh to hear, "Don't go anywhere. I'll be back."

"Sure thing dad," she murmured back, though with a slight singsong in her voice. Rukawa glared at her, before hitting her on the head again and going to the locker rooms.

Kira shot his back a frown, rubbing her head slightly,and then turned to Sendoh, who was still there.

"Not the friendliest, is he?" he asked.

"No, afraid not," she sighed, then grinned, "I don't mind though, more for me!"

Sendoh nodded, took a deep breath and said, "Wanna go to dinner? You know, drown the pain of loss?"

Kira would have dearly loved to say yes, unfortunately, "Sorry, Sendoh I can't. I already promised Kaede I'll go eat dinner with him."

Sendoh did look disappointed. "Oh," he said, then looked up hopefully again, "How about Saturday? Will you go out with me Saturday? I'm sure you have nothing planned on Saturday. It'll be fun on Saturday, I'll -"

"I heard you the first time, Sendoh," laughed Kira, holding up a hand to stop him.

"Well?" he asked hopefully, "will you?"

Kira hesistated. She didn't mind, she didn't mind at all, but what would Kaede say? He would care of course, he is the best friend after all, but she dearly wanted to go, Kaede wouldn't mind, -

"Sure, Sendoh, why not," she said brightly, "I'm sure it'll be fun."

Sendoh's eyes brightened and he grinned. "Great," he said, and started walking backwards, "Saturday then, date, everything's my treat, I'll see you around school!"

And he ran all the way back to the locker room.

Kira was left, slightly weirded by Sendoh's backward walking. Only one though rang through her mind: _I have a date with Sendoh. _

Kira's grin was still not wiped off her face when Rukawa came back. He noticed it.

"What's with the grin?" he asked, as he picked up his bag and hoisted it over her shoulder.

"Nothing."

"Sendoh, isn't it?"

_How does he do that?_

"Hmm..." she couldn't help but nod enthusiastically, then looked up at him.

"He asked you out didn't he?" he muttered.

"Hmm..."

"And you say yes, didn't you?" he said dully.

"You don't mind do you?" she asked hopefully.

Rukawa looked down at her. She had the whole puppy dog look down to a tee, she was even whimpering. How can you say no to that?

"Fine."

Kira squealed and hugged him tight around the waist, while they were still walking."Thank you, thank you, thank you," she cried, "see, this is why I love you..."

Kira was still rumbling on, but Rukawa wasn't listening.A thought was ringing through his mind.

_She loves me._


	10. Chapter 10

Hello people!

keia mizuki: Yay, you reviewed again! Happy me...

Neko11lover: really long review...yay! Okay, don't worry about Rukawa, he'll be fine. Yeah, I laughed myself when I thought of the macarena dancing part. I kept reading and reading it and I thought it was one of my better ideas. Didn't you get Kira's memo of Rukawa kissing every girl there? Maybe the Ru, Ka, and Wa girls decided to hide it from you cause you might get him all to yourself. Go blame them. The PM was fine, it shows how much you care...I'm touched, sniff. Oh, and please, by all means of transportation, go and post the URL in your blog. I checked it out, it's really cool. I'll even advertise it for you.

Ahem, hey guys! Go check out neko11lover's blog: http/foolish-traveller. really cool blog! Go check it out, after reading this chapter of course, and after reviewing this chapter too. She also has a new fic, Moon's Shadow, another Rukawa fic, check it out, again after reading andr reviewing this chapter! Thanks!

Anyway, as a note. There will be some times that I'll be posting two chapters at a time. Why? You'll find out when I post those chapters. Oh, and I wanted to post this right away, I was just waiting for the hits counter to hit fifty on the previous chapters. You know I don't like to keep my favorite people in the world, my readers, waiting! Thanks! Oh and of course, i don't own Slam Dunk, anything related to Slam Dunk. I only own Kira and the stuff that she's got in her room.

On to the story!

* * *

You Mean, Rukawa has a best friend? 

Chapter Ten

He was in the basketball courts, as usual.

This was, after all, his Woodstock.

Basketball was one of those things that are stable forever. People change all the time, and rules about how to deal with them change as often as the people themselves. He either has to deal with the changes and follow it, or completely ignore it and let the people come to him.

He chose the latter option.

Basketball, in basketball, rules don't change. Rules are rules, and wherever he might go in the world, the rules that apply to what he believes is the best game in the world would never ever ever change.

"Kaede!" a voice rang out in the courts.

It was then that Rukawa noticed that there was an odd mist around the corners of the court, and the voice that called his name was echoing over and over.

He was frozen in the shooting position on the free throw line. He looked at the doors, it was sliding open. There came gliding in through the doors was Kira.

Rukawa did a double take and looked at her feet. Yes, she was gliding, floating a few inches above the ground toward him. Is she a ghost? An apparition, perhaps? What? Is she even real?

He was starting to question things in his head. Is this a dream? He asked inwardly like a little child and shot an accusatory look in Kira's direction.

Kira just smiled.

Then –

"Kaede," she said in a low business like tone, "we're changing the rules of the game."

Rukawa dropped the ball.

"What?" he demanded. "I've just been raving about how the rules of basketball never change, and you choose _now_ to change the rules of the game?"

Then he reminded himself that the real Kira would never even bother to look up the rules of the game, much less know before him that rules were going to be changed. He concluded that this was a dream. He also decided to call this Kira, dream Kira.

Dream Kira smiled wryly, and nodded. "You'll now be playing with five balls."

Rukawa gaped at her. "Why?" Though he had grasped that this was a dream, the question flew out of his mouth before he can stop himself.

He also concluded that he was much more talkative in dream mode.

Dream Kira shrugged. "I don't know," she said, "ask the basketball people."

"Okay," he said, swallowing, "what else?"

"Women will be allowed to play."

"As in men and women in one team?"

"Yes."

"That's ridiculous!"

Dream Kira frowned. Rukawa guessed that being a girl didn't leave dream Kira's mind. "No it's not." She said, "and I'm really offended."

"Sorry."

Kira smiled. "For that I have to poke you til eternity."

Kaede's eyes widened as wide as they could go. "What? No!"

Poke Poke Poke 

"Stop it, stop."

_Poke Poke Poke_

"Get off.."

Poke Poke Poke 

"**Kaede!"**

Kaede's eyes sprang open and he sat bolt upright in his bed. In front of him, sitting halfway in the bed was Kira, with a nice big grin in her face.

"Good morning," she said softly. "Nice dream?"

Rukawa rubbed his eyes before turning to Kira. "How do you know I'm dreaming?"

Kira shrugged. "Wild guess." She answered. "And you were drooling."

Rukawa wiped the dry saliva accumulated from last night's sleep in a towel that was lying by his bedside table. He then got up, without a word, to the bathroom, and a few minutes later, came back, having brushed his teeth and washed his face.

"What time is it?"

"Ten o clock in the morning."

"And what day is it?"

"Saturday."

Rukawa glared. "It's Saturday and you made me get up this early?" he snarled.

Kira looked at him. "Ten o clock is late, not early," she corrected, "and two weeks ago, _you _made me wake up at five thirty in the morning on a Saturday, you owe me." She grinned. "And I need your help."

Rukawa ceased glaring. "Help on what?"

"Well, it's Saturday…"

Rukawa looked indifferent. "So?" Though he knew exactly what was coming next.

"I have a date with Sendoh in a few hours…"

"How can I forget?" he asked dryly.

"Oh, don't be like that, Kaede," she murmured, looking at him with big teary eyes.

Rukawa sighed, and decided to ceased being indifferent. "So what is it?"

Kira's eyes brightened and she grinned. Really, it was worth caring if she always looked like that, he thought. "Well," she began, looking at her fingers, "I need you…"

Rukawa sensed that this was some girl thing.

"To help me..."

This was _definitely_ a girl thing.

"...decide what to wear."

Ha, he knew it.

Although –

"Why?"

"Well who else am I gonna ask?" she said. "Mom's in Taiwan, and Dad's well, Dad's dad. So you're the best option."

Rukawa looked around his room, as if hoping someone, anyone who knows how to deal with these type of situations would suddenly turn up and scoop Kira away into the world of fashion advice and hairstyles.

Due to the law of nature, nothing like this occurred.

Rukawa cursed the law of nature.

"Please, Kaede?" she half begged.

Rukawa glared at her for a full minute, enough to show that he was not happy at all about this, but he would do it, and sealed the deal with saying, "Do I even have a choice?"

Kira smiled widely and dragged him, in his pajamas no less (in case you want to know, and I know that you _do_ want to know, a plain large whiteshirt and dark blue cotton pants, hehe), holding him tightly in his arm – in case he decides to run away - , out the door and into the her own house just next door and into her room.

Kira's room looked the same to him. The walls were painted a soft baby pink, a color she had loved ever since they met. At the bottom of the walls were paintings, done by them, and when you looked from the bottom up, you can see that the drawings steadily improved, indicating that this was work over a number of years. The subjects of these paintings were the same as in his room: basketballs, courts, flowers, and the occasional angel or fairy.

Rukawa then noticed a new painting, right smack dab in the middle of the wall, of a small, about the size of a credit card, male angel. It had large silver wings, short black hair anfd bright blue eyes. It had a pale complexion, and looked remarkably like –

"You." Kira had finished his thought. Rukawa turned to her. She saw him looking at the drawing. She was smiling. "I couldn't sleep last night, and I thought I'd draw. That's you."

"Why me?"

Kira's smiled grew, there was no other word for it, sweeter. "I like to think you're my angel."

Rukawa felt himself swell with pride, though he was very good at hiding it. Although he couldn't help the small upward curve that occurred in his lips.

I'm her angel, he thought smugly. Take that, Sendoh.

However...

"Hn." was what came out of his mouth.

"So anyway," Kira was grinning now. Rukawa didn't notice the pink tinge in her cheeks because it was then that he noticed that there were a number of shirts, blouses, skirts, pants, hats, scarves, and every other piece of clothing there imaginable strewn in her bed and on the bedroom floor. "Choose."

"Choose what?" he asked incredulously.

"What I'm gonna wear!"

"Why? You're wearing it."

"Kaede!"

"No."

"Kaede..."

"No."

"Pwease..."

"Hn."

"Oh come on!" she shouted, stamping her foot.

"Fine," he grumbled.

He then let his eyes roam in the many clothes spread in front of him. He wanted her - for some manly reason not to be discussed right now - to show skin, but not much skin, because it's cold out there, even if the snow had gone, and because that idiot Sendoh might start thinking hentai thoughts. He had always thought that Kira looked best in green, since it brings out her eyes. Pink, no matter how much she loved it, clashed with her hair. He saw her pair of denim pants that were dyed green, grabbed it, along with a white tank top and a yellow pullover, and threw it to her.

Rukawa suddenly felt he shouldn't be doing this. It felt ... _gay-ish._

"There." he muttered, crossing his arms, going to the window, and vowing to never, ever do that again.

When she came back after putting the stuff on, Rukawa felt immensely proud of himself. Her midriff was showing slightly,and there was a big grin plastered in her face.The sleeves of her pullover was pulledback to her elbows. She looked good. Very good. Hot even.

"You may not know it, bestest friend in the whole wide world," she said while turning in front of the full length mirror, "but you sure know this stuff."

Rukawa snorted. He didn't _want _to know this stuff.

"Shoes?" she asked.

"Your boots."

"Good answer." She grinned.

Rukawa smirked. He knew she loved those boots. Even if he suggested something else, she would inevitable wear those red knee high boots.

"What do you think?" she asked, twirling for him after wearing the boots.

"Beautiful." He said, before he can stop himself.

"You think so?" she asked, a slight tinge of pink in her cheeks.

He nodded. He didn't know why he was talking so much this morning. It was really weirding him out, but he couldn't even stop himself saying that she looked pretty. Not that he wasn't unbiased of course, he dressed the girl for goodness sake.

But then, she had never looked this good to him. Did she lose weight? Is she wearing make up? Did her smile change? Was she always this curvy? That waist looked so small he thought that he could wrap it in the palm of his hands...

"Kaede! Still with me?"

"Huh?" he asked, and looked at Kira. "What, yeah…"

"Oh good," she said smiling. Then started to comb her hair, and checking her teeth. She was talking, Rukawa most probably thought about what she and Sendoh might be doing later, but he wasn't listening…

His eyes were following the swishing of her long red hair.

The sound of the doorbell made Rukawa jump and look at the door. Kira jumped too, and gave an excited grin in his direction.

He didn't need Kira to tell him. He got up and opened the door, welcoming Sendoh Akira with the coldest glare possible, a glare so cold it made the chilly weather outside look like a bright summer's day.

Sendoh, it seemed, looked flustered to see Rukawa there. Surely he thought that it would Kira, or Kira's parents, who would be answering the door. Not Rukawa Kaede!

"What?" asked Rukawa, coldly.

_Pull yourself together._ He thought, then said, "Where's Kira?"

"In here."

"Oh," said Sendoh, fidgeting, "can I come in? Where, you know, it's warm?" He then looked at Rukawa up and down. "Why are you still in pajamas? In Kira's house?"

Rukawa glared at him, fighting the blood rushing to his face. "What's it to you?" he asked coldly. "But if you must know, your _date, _who happens to be _my best friend,_ woke me up and dragged me in here."

"Oh," said Sendoh lightly, "well can I come in then?"

Rukawa thought for a moment. Maybe he can let the idiot stay outside and watch him freeze to death, but then that would make Kira mad, so with one more glare he stepped aside to let the boy in.

"Thanks," he smiled.

Rukawa didn't smile back. He sat in one of the couches.

Sendoh looked awkwardly standing at the door.

Rukawa liked it.

"Sit down." He muttered.

Sendoh sat, as ordered. He was looking at Rukawa in a different way. He looked much more like a very, very overprotective brother as he sat there, in the couch, arms crossed with a glare pointed directly at him. He must have known Kira for a long time now, and cared for her a lot, he thought, picturing a small Kira and a small Rukawa playing in the park.

But, he thought smugly, she's going out with _me_. Not him, me. Haha.

"Is Kira gonna take long?" he asked, forcing a break in the silence.

"She's going to take as long as she needs, and you'll be okay about it." Answered Rukawa in a menacing voice.

Okay, like a very, very, _very _protective brother.

Sendoh nodded, and started humming.

When he saw Rukawa glaring at him in a murderous way, he stopped.

Twenty minutes later, Sendoh was starting to get a little impatient, and Rukawa was marvelously cool, as if time wasn't passing at all, Kira had come down the stairs.

Sendoh gulped. She looked absolutely _gorgeous_.

Rukawa had also stood, and his eyes widened. She was positively _gorgeous_.

She had put a small amount of make up, just enough to hide some freckles and a few blemishes at the side of her face and had lip gloss on, and was grinning at them both. She gave Rukawa a small wink before turning her attention to Sendoh. She was wearing Rukawa's choices of clothes, and over it was a rich brown coat that went down to the middle of her thighs.

"Hey," said Sendoh, "you look beautiful."

She blushed. "Thanks," she said, "you look great too."

This was when Rukawa acknowledged what Sendoh was wearing. Jeans, shoes and a polo with a brown leather jacket. Did this boy know how to dress?

"Kaede," said Kira, "I'll see you later, ne?"

"Course."

Kira wrapped him in a tight hug. "I'll tell you everything later," she whispered.

"You better." He whispered back.

Kira giggled and kissed him lightly in the cheek. "Bye."

"Later." Said Sendoh.

Rukawa said nothing. He went out with them, after all, this was not his house and walked back to his house, opposite to where they were going.

Sitting in his bed, the suddenly thought. Basketball. To get mind off date, do basketball.

He didn't want to stand up for _basketball._

What the hell was wrong with him?

Thirty minutes later, he was out the door, into the snowless but cold weather, muttering, _spying is not bad, spying is not bad, spying is not bad…_


	11. Chapter 11

**I look to the stats page, down to the chapter ten. My eyes are wide and I am looking at you right now, yes that's right, you, with my bright and big teary eyes. "_What?"_ I cried, "53? That's it?" Then I looked around, and if you don't like people readng over your shoulder, then there's no one else around. "What happened? Why53 only? What happened to all the people who kept clicking and reading this story? Where are you!" Then I cry. "I want you back!" Then I look at you sternly. "Oi you," I say, "that's right, you. What happened? What did you do? You're hiding my readers, aren't you? Aren't you? Answer me!"**

**Then my laptop grows hands and slaps me. I blink, then look at you embarrassed. "Did I scare you?" I ask meekly, "Or freak you out? No, wait don't go! Go on, read, as a means to make it up to you, I'll even post two chapters now! That's right two!"**

**Okay, people I'm back to my normal, cute self. Yes, that's right, I'm cute. Don't argue. _I'm cute._**

To answer the reviews:

**neko11lover**: Guess what, I just checked out your blog and it is to the warm embarrassment on my face that I saw my pen name there! Thanks for adding my suggestions on why Rukawa isn't gay, and for advertising my story! Don't give up on yours, it's really cute. By the way, why's the genre horror? Anyway, update that soon, and keep reviewing kay, hope you're having a nice summer over there!

**keia mizuki**: thanks for reviewing as always. If you're pinoy, sana hindi ka magsawa! Or if not, can someone translate that for me? It's lost in my thoughts in the moment. The only thing that comes close to that is, I hope that you continue reviewing! I love you for it!

**Okay, people as I said before when I temporarily lost my sanity, I will be posting two chapters today! That's right, two! Why? Well, it's because I think that I did a cruddy job of writing chapter eleven, and I don't want my readers to think that I'm losing my touch or anything. I think that I did a better job in chapter twelve, but I want to make it up to you cause I really think that this isn't my best work, but I do hope that you still read it. Okay? Please, pretty please?**

On to the story!

* * *

You Mean, Rukawa has a best friend? 

Chapter Eleven

After three hundred and seventy nine consecutive mutterings of _Spying is not bad, _Rukawa has finally convinced himself that, well, spying isn't bad. He had immediately dressed in dark warm clothes and a hat, intent on following Kira and Sendoh wherever they were going.

At first he thought that he would like to wear that hat Kira gave, the one with a basketball pattern on it, so that he looked like he had half a basketball in his head. The hat had always amused him, but then thought that using that hat might make him stand out considerably.

To his relief, he saw that the masses around him was wearing the same color that he was: black. This would make him immensely hard to spot, no matter how tall he was.

He wondered where that idiot might be taking Kira. He thought that they might not be that hard to find, since Kira's a red head, and the idiot was tall.

He's still an idiot, he thought.

Bashing Sendoh Akira proved to be calming to his soul.

He found Kira and Sendoh in a flower shop downtown. Sendoh had just given her a single, bright red tulip, which Kira accepted gratefully, with a smile in her face.

Ha, he thought smugly, roses are her favorite and she likes pink. What an idiot.

He knew that Kira would accept it gratefully and not ask for a change. She would think that that would be immensely ungrateful of her. Rukawa even noticed that she had looked longingly at the pink roses that were behind the counter before leaving the shop.

They were walking to a mall now, and Rukawa followed. He wasn't exactly sure why he was spying. This, after all, had nothing to do with him whatsoever. He could be doing something more productive right now, like practicing basketball.

_You like her._

Of course I like her, he answer, er, himself, angrily, she's my best friend.

_You idiot. You like like her._

What?

_Was she always that curvy? Did her smile change? Did she lose weight? _

Rukawa knew his thoughts was mocking him. It would seem really stupid if he beat himself up in public.

Kira and Sendoh was going up to the top floor of the mall, where Rukawa knew where the movies where playing. So, they were going to watch a movie, he thought.

He saw that Sendoh was buying tickets for Without a Paddle. He wanted to cry out loud. But he had his dignity with him, so he cried out on the inside. Can't this boy leave the water alone? He didn't even think that that was a fishing movie!

They also bought popcorn. A large one, for them to share. Rukawa gritted his teeth. As he looked on, he thought about whether or not he should follow them and watch the movie too. If he followed in, he might just sleep through the film. If he didn't, he might fall asleep out there and he might be caught.

Then he saw the arcade and the basketball game was free.

Well, what would you do if you were Rukawa?

* * *

Rukawa left before the crowd that had been watching him became even more large in number. He was already attracting a small number of people after all, and he has already practiced shooting the ball for almost two hours now. He had thought that the crowd there would have been bored and went away. But it seemed to him that they were waiting for him to miss a shot… 

He wasn't about to let that happen.

So instead of waiting for them to leave, he was the one who left, and waited in a table a good distance away from the cinemas. He ordered hot chocolate, and the waitress flirted with him. He glared at her. She walked away, extremely disappointed.

Finally, a good deal after he finished the hot chocolate, he saw Sendoh and Kira walking out of the cinemas. They were laughing. It must have been a good movie. Rukawa felt irritated. He had hoped Kira wouldn't like it.

He stood and followed. They were heading to a restaurant, to eat. It was then that Rukawa realized that he was hungry. His stomach rumbled silently. He entered the same restaurant as then and ordered food 15 minutes after they had ordered theirs.

He sat a few seats away from then, but he was still able to hear their conversation. He looked down at his sushi as he listened intently in their conversation.

"…he really is a nice guy you know," said Kira.

"I'm sure he is…around you." Answered Sendoh.

Rukawa felt his ears burning. He looked up to see Kira staring at Sendoh. She didn't answer him.

"Anyway," said Sendoh, "we're here to talk about you. You always turn the subject to Rukawa, and I see enough of him in the courts."

Kira's lips formed into a smile. "Well, what do you want to know?"

"Okay," said Sendoh, rubbing his hands. "Age."

"Sixteen."

"Siblings?"

"None."

"Parents."

"Dad's here. Mom's in Taiwan."

"Friends?"

"Kaede." A small smile formed in her lips.

Sendoh rubbed the back of his head. "You must really like him a lot don't you?"

Kira nodded.

"Height?"

"Five feet 6 inches."

"Tall."

"You would know."

"Birthday?"

"You tell me."

"August 10." Said Sendoh, grinning, "See? I remembered."

Rukawa stopped listening and started eating his lunch. They were talking about trivial things after all. He already knew everything he needed to know about Kira. It was part of the job description of best friend after all. It was then that Kira started firing the questions. He didn't listen. He didn't want to know anything about Sendoh Akira.

"Boyfriends?" asked Sendoh suddenly.

Rukawa's ears pricked up and he looked up again.

Kira was giving him an incredulous smile. "Now if I had a boyfriend, would I even consider going out with you today?"

"Good point."

"Thank you."

Rukawa snorted a little. Sendoh can really be an idiot sometimes.

All right, all the time.

"What about ex-boyfriends?" asked Sendoh curiously. "Anyone ever managed to pass Rukawa's test?"

Kira smiled. "Rukawa does not test my suitors," she said.

Rukawa smirked at his sushi.

"And it wasn't for the lack of trying."

"Ah," said Sendoh, "so he's tried?"

"Yep." Said Kira. "I've always managed to stop him, though."

"Just how you are able to control that ice prince is beyond me." Said Sendoh.

_Ice prince?_

"Ice prince?" asked Kira curiously. "Never heard anyone talk about him that way."

"That's because he actually _talks _to you," said Sendoh, "to us, well, he lets basketball do the talking for him."

Kira looked at him. "You sound like that's a bad thing."

"Actually, I admire the guy for his dedication."

Rukawa grabbed a glass of tea before he even started to choke.

Kira, however, choked. "You _what _the guy?"

Sendoh nodded. "I admire the dedication he has for basketball. The constant hours that he puts in in his practices, the fact that he doesn't care about anything but basketball, the sacrifices that he makes for the game. Not like me, though. I'm late for practice practically everyday, and always the first to leave. Basketball isn't the only thing that I like after all, there's sleeping – "

Kira smiled.

"- and there's fishing."

"Fishing?"

Sendoh nodded. "Fishing," he said, "fishing is extremely cool."

Kira looked very amused.

"Yep, fishing,"

For a moment, he looked dreamily up in the sky. Kira pondered whether he wanted to go fishing right now.

"But it's not like I'm not enjoying myself here," he added hastily.

Rukawa thought that he _better _add that statement.

Kira nodded, and blushed slightly. "I'm enjoying myself too."

After a few more minutes of talking, they left, slowly followed by Rukawa. They were just walking, talking, walking, pointing at things, Rukawa mostly noticed that Kira pointed at stuffed penguins, and lions, but refused when Sendoh said that he would buy it for her. He was starting to think that spying on the two of them had been a bad idea, and was halfway into thinking that he should just give up and go home.

After a few more minutes of walking, he went home.

He waited for Kira to come home. He didn't go to the basketball courts. Instead, he stayed in his room, playing with a soft plushie basketball and staring down the window every now and then to see if Kira was on her way home.

He kept the window open, even though the temperature was dropping fast, and just as it was almost completely dark and he was thinking of closing the window, voices floated in from the ground.

"I had a lovely time,"

Rukawa practically jumped out of bed and looked down. It was Kira, and she was still with Sendoh.

"It was my pleasure."

It was a few minutes before Rukawa finally registered that Kira and Sendoh were kissing.

_Kissing._

_You lost, dude. You lost to Sendoh Akira._

Rukawa slammed the window and shouted at the maid when she called him for dinner.

* * *

**People, continue reading, there's another chapter! Because I love you all!**


	12. Chapter 12

In hind sight I really shouldn't even be complaining. At least people are still reading this right, anyway, here's the next part.

You Mean, Rukawa has a best friend?

Chapter Twelve

Kira was looking up at Rukawa with a small frown in her face. She didn't understand him at all.

They were in the Rukawas' garden. Rukawa's eyes were following the movements of a small cat that had wandered in there, and was paying no attention to Kira at all.

She had told him about the details of yesterday's date. He said he wanted to know after all, and she intented to tell him as much as possible. She went through the events without breaks from Rukawa. This she found slightly weird. She had fully expected him to stop at every possible moment and critique, in other words, bash Sendoh for everything that he did that he knew or felt was wrong and afterwards Kira would defiantly defend the date until they both got tired of debating and move on to the next event.

She was prepared to argue, she had every thing worked out.

But Rukawa was as silent as a grave.

This worried her a little. Did she say something wrong? What did she say anyway? All she did was talk about her date with Sendoh, what was wrong with that? Didn't he say that he _wanted _to know about it?

"Um…Kaede?"

Rukawa grunted.

"Is something wrong?"

Rukawa didn't answer, nor made any motion that he heard her at all.

Kira came to a conclusion.

"Are you mad at me?" she asked quietly.

Rukawa's head slowly turned in her direction. Kira waited for it…

"No."

Kira felt relief. She was glad for that one thing. Fighting with Rukawa wasn't exactly one of her favorite past times. But this still leaves one mystery.

"You're being cold." She said, quite bluntly. She was not the type to beat around the bush, or at least not beat around it for a long time.She looked up at him, unblinking, as he himself stared back, also unblinking. She blinked. Their staring contest was over, but his eyes were still locked on the hers.

"So what?" he answered.

"Something's wrong." She said, not breaking the stare.

"So what?"

Kira's frown deepened. What the hell was up with him? He was staring at her like some enemy, someone he didn't want to hang around with, like one of his crazed fans or something. His eyes were seemed colder to her now, colder that usual. It made her feel extremely uneasy, and she didn't want to feel that way around him.

"Tell me what's wrong then." she reasoned carefully. "We won't get anywhere if you don't tell me what's wrong."

He said nothing.

"I know that there's something wrong, Kaede. It shows on everything that you do. If you just tell me then maybe we can work this out."

He grunted.

Kira's patience was starting to grow thin. "Kaede, I won't understand anything if you just grunt." She said, almost snappishly.

Rukawa's glared deepened. "Stop asking questions then."

Kira glared right back at him, her green eyes matching the coldness in Rukawa's blue ones. "Well how the hell are we suppose to work this out?"

"I don't care."

"Well I do." She snapped. "If you just tell me what the hell's – where are you going?"

Rukawa had stood up and moved to where the cat was. The cat, a stray, then bolted away to the other side of the garden. Kira had also stood up but didn't move from the spot, and instead, continued to glare at him with the same eyes, her hands flanked on her hips.

Rukawa stopped where the cat had been a few minutes ago, and then turned around to face Kira. Kira was a bit shocked, and thought that his face was contorted in a mixture of anger, and possibly…hurt?

"You kissed him."

"What?"

"Don't even think of worming your way out of it!" snapped Rukawa. "You kissed him!"

Kira thought and her eyes suddenly were wide with shock and her mouth had formed a small o. She had not told him about that. She intented to keep that part of the date private. There was no need to tell Rukawa, after all.

"You mean, you saw - ?" she stuttered.

"You weren't exactly hiding it from the world!" he snapped.

"But I thought that – " but she stopped when Rukawa has opened his mouth. She had thought that he was playing basketball somewhere. He wasn't exactly the type to be lounging around the house.

"I was waiting for you to get back, and surprise surprise you were kissing in the highway for the whole god damn world to see!"

Kira's surprise was being over ridden by her anger. "What is it to you if we kissed?"

Rukawa's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Do you know what the people would think?"

Kira laughed bitterly. "Since when did you care about people?"

Rukawa's eyes flashed for one second. "That's not the point!" he snapped back. "It was your first date, and already you're – "

"So what if I kissed him?"

"It was your first date with the guy!"

"So now you're telling me you don't trust me?"

"I trust you, it's him I don't trust!"

Kira was shaking with fury. "I'm the one dating him, not you!" she screamed.

Rukawa eyes were still narrowed. "He's not good enough for you, - " he said quite calmly, but was interrupted by Kira, who was starting to shake with indignation.

"Why the hell do you care anyway? It's my decision, and I date who I want and I want to date him, why the hell do you have to put yourself in the middle of what I want to do!"

"Because you're not making the right –"

"So now you don't trust my judgement!"

"NO! I DON'T!"

Kira stopped. She didn't know what to say anymore. She thought for a brief moment that this argument was completely pointless, but then he said those words. "You – you don't trust me?" she asked weakly.

"Kira, wait, I didn't – "

But Kira's eyes had already hardened, and she was looking angrier than ever. The warmth in her usually soft green eyes were now gone and was matching the coldness of the weather, and she was sure if looks could kill, she would be guilty of murder right now. "Forget it, _Rukawa,_" she said menacingly, emphasizing his surname, "if you don't trust me, I don't think we can be friends anymore."

She walked off, without another word, leaving a dumb struck Rukawa rooted to the spot.

* * *

Kira's bad mood still had not worn off by the time she had gone to school the next day. She ignored the cheerful greetings of her classmates and snapped at her teachers during her lessons, landing her on detention. She was also writing harder on her notebook in a more menacing and forceful way than needed, resulting in many ripped paper in her notebooks. 

Lunch came and she was still in a horrible mood. Her locker was shaking threateningly but she didn't care, even if the whole thing fell right on her, she didn't care, she just wasn't in the mood.

"Good afternoon, Kira," a voice greeted. The speaker then leaned on the locker next to her and smiled at her.

It was Sendoh.

"And what the hell's so bloodygood about the damnedafternoon." She snapped, glaring at him before stuffing her books in her locker.

"Er, bad mood?" asked Sendoh tentatively.

"WHAT THEFRIGGING HELL DO YOU THINK?" she screamed.

Sendoh raised both arms in surrender. "Calm down," he said soothingly.

Kira glared at him. It was, she thought, all his fault that she and Rukawa fought. If she didn't go out with him, then Rukawa would still be sending him good morning text messages, and she wouldnt be this pissed off. "I don't want to calm down," she muttered, slamming the door of her locker with much more force than necessary.

"If the locker falls on the both of us, will that be a reason to calm down?"

"No."

Sendoh sighed. "How does Rukawa put up with you?" he asked jokingly.

Kira glared at him. "Mention that name again and I'll slit your throat." She said, in gritted teeth.

Sendoh looked concerned. "You two fought?"

"What do you think?" she snapped, then sighed. She thought of telling Sendoh what they fought about. It did seem that he wanted to know, but upon reflection, Kira thought against it. "Sorry, Akira, I didn't mean to snap at you."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Kira gave him a weak, fake smile. "Not really."

Sendoh nodded, and put an arm over her shoulder, sensing that it was now safe and she wouldn't follow through on her threat. "Okay," he said, "let's not just think about it."

Kira nodded. She guessed that that would be the only way to go now. Forget about it. Ignore him. Do not think of him. At all.

"Sorry," she said again, this time managing a real, small, but real, smile. "I promise by your game with Shoyo next week, I'll be in a better mood."

Sendoh kissed her in the cheek. "That's all I ask." He said.

Yes, don't think of him. Ignore him. Forget that he existed.

The question is, can she?


	13. Chapter 13

Guys, thanks so much for the reviews! I appreciate them so much!

**Sabrina**: Bonjourno! Is that right? I'm not even sure if that's right. Wow, you're like, close, just south from where I am. Switzerland by the way. Thanks for thinking this is such a beautiful story. Here's the new update. By the way, what does ragazzi mean? I learn my Italian, from a show here, merchante el fiera, or something like that! Take care, arrivaderchi! (again, is that right or is 'ciao' better?)

**neko11lover**: you're back! By the way, great update. I didn't think my udate took a while. Did it? Oh well, here's the next bit. Oh, and thanks for cheering me on. You're right, I still should appreciate the people who do read this.

**jhydl redublado:** Don't worry, I have this story all worked out. It's all written and updated every five days, so no fret!

**Sarah**: Thanks for the constructive criticism. I will improve my English. :)

Anyway, on to the story!

You Mean, Rukawa has a best friend?

Chapter Thirteen

It turned out that ignoring Rukawa was much more difficult that she had anticipated. First of all, there was his house. Large, imposing, inviting, and most especially, it was right beside her own house. Some nights, when she came home she thought that she saw Rukawa's outline by the window, but when she would look again, it would be gone.

Then there would be the times that they pass each other in the street. On their first meeting after their fight, they had both stopped when they saw each other. Rukawa was the first to recover, and he walked on, bumping into her a little, but didn't seem to notice that he did so.

Her bad mood had worn off the afternoon of screaming at Sendoh's face, to be replaced the by unwanted fact that she was missing her best friend. She had wished many times now that the fight never happened, and that things would go back to normal. She got angry at herself for losing her temper exponentially, and in the little bump that Rukawa gave, she had hoped that he would stop, turn around, and talk to her again.

None of this happened. At least, she _thought _none of these happened.

Kira, frustrated and hurt, and hoping that he would talk to her, walked on, without looking back.

If she did, she would have seen Rukawa turn back to look at her.

Sendoh had almost taken over everything that she and Rukawa did together. She knew that Sendoh would never be Rukawa, and for a fleeting moment that gradually increased in frequency, she was disappointed of that fact. She would never tell him that she missed her best friend terribly, and she had acted very well. She wondered how many more fake smiles she can pull off before Sendoh starts to ask her about Rukawa. She didn't think that Sendoh has caught on that she missed Kaede, and she was relieved for it.

The game between Ryonan and Shoyo was anticipated by the entire Ryonan student body, but none more so than Kira. She was extremely nervous for the team, after all, Shoyo is one of the best there is out there, but at the same time, it would the first time in about four days that she would see Rukawa again. She knew that he would be there, along with the entire Shohoku Basketball Team, and if she was being honest with herself, she couldn't wait to see him again.

Another effect of their fight was that she was finding it uncomfortable kissing Sendoh. She wanted to kiss him, but everytime he tried, she would stop him. When he asked why, she didn't answer, she couldn't possibly tell him that this was the reason she and Rukawa fought in the first place, but instead look around to see if they were being watched, and then would kiss him, to make up for stopping him. After that, he wouldn't ask any more questions.

Kira had hugged Sendoh tightly, and whispered good luck in his ear, before kissing him in the cheek. She went to the stands and took a seat nearest to court, facing the bench. Shoyo and Ryonan were both warming up and the stadium was slowly filling up with people.

Whispers came when the Kainan Basketball Team arrived. She turned and saw that they were seated a few rows behind her, with their coach. She knew them of course, Rukawa made it a point that she knew.

Rukawa, a stab in her heart. She looked around and saw they weren't there yet. She caught Maki's eyes for a few seconds before turning back to the courts.

More whispers came a few minutes later. The Shohoku Basketball Team had arrived. Kira felt her heart racing. She saw him behind Mitsui Hisashi, the same cold, aloof glance at the court. They were on the other side of the court. Kira was a bit disappointed. She had hoped that she was at hearing distance from them. But this way, she thought, I could look at Rukawa all the time.

She then realized her situation. It would seem utterly hard not to look at him, even if they are mad at each other, and even harder so because every time she told herself not to look at him, her eyes would immediately find him.

He was seated in the front row, arms crossed over his chest and glaring at the courts. Then, his headrose and he looked at her. It was almost like he knew exactly where she was seating. She shifted in her seat and dropped her gaze to the courts.

Despite their icy silence with each other, Kira felt a little lighter with her first eye contact with Rukawa in many days.

* * *

It was halftime, and the game was tied, 45 to 45. The players had gone to the locker room to cool off, and people around the stands were buzzing excitedly while the entire Shoyo cheerleading squad, namely the entire school, was shouting cheers for their team. 

Both teams have been impressive. Sendoh showed off his best moves almost flawlessly, and kept glancing at Kira's direction, at which Kira would smile back at him as she cheered him on, although without the same enthusiasm as she had when she and Rukawa were still talking.

There was a minute when the cheering stopped and the buzzing of people eased up a little. Kira looked up, slightly surprised by the sudden drop in the volume, then droppedher back again and started fidgeting with her nails.

It was then that Sakuragi Hanamichi decided to make his presence felt by the public. He did it by the most energetic means possible.

"OY! REDHEAD!"

Kira, who had dropped her gaze again, looked up. As far as she knew, she was the only other red head in the stadium, since Sakuragi can't have been referring to himself, and judging by the looks that people near her made, she really _was _the only redhead here. She smiled weakly in Sakuragi's direction. She also saw Rukawa glaring at him.

"WHY THE HECK ARE YOU SITTING ALL THE WAY OVER THERE?"

Kira didn't feel the need to answer him.

"WHY AREN'T YOU SITTING OVER HERE? WITH BAKA KITSUNE?"

Rukawa looked like he wanted to throttle him.

Kira just shrugged in his direction, squirming down in her seat, hoping to just dissolve from the situation.

"DID YOU GUYS HAVE A FIGHT?"

She wanted the world to swallow her right now.

"YOU DID HUH?"

Please, now.

"I DON'T REALLY BLAME YOU!" shouted Sakuragi, who had a very captivated audience, "WHO CAN REALLY STAND TO BE FRIENDS WITH THE BAKA KITSUNE WHEN THEY CAN BE FRIENDS WITH TENSAI –"

It was at this precise moment that Rukawa decided to stand up and stamp on Sakuragi as hard as he could. Kira stopped sinking to the floor and was watching the stamping, a small smile forming in her face, that grew a little wider with every stamp.

Her smile faltered when he turned to her with a glare in his eyes.

She sighed. Sadly.

* * *

Well, Ryonan won, she thought, cheer up, your school won. 

The thought did absolutely nothing to cheer her up, but it did pass the time, and she was grateful for that. She was waiting for Sendoh outside the stadium, she didn't want to go back to the locker rooms.

While waiting, the Kainan Basketball Team passed her by the door. Their captain, Maki, looked at her and nodded in her direction, though his eyes searched her curiously. He was probably wondering whether or not what Sakuragi said was true.

He didn't ask anything though, and he continued to walk on, without a word, while Kiyota, who looked like he was bursting with things to say was dragged away by a smiling Jin before he could utter a single syllable.

She was playing with her foot when a small cough made her raise her head. She stood stock still.

Rukawa was standing in front of her, looking at her directly in the eyes. She wanted to say hi, but his visit didn't seem like the friendly kind. When he didn't say anything, she guessed that he wasn't thinking of reconciliation either.

"I still think you're making a mistake." He suddenly said.

Anger was slowly starting to bubble. "You think so, do you?" she asked coolly.

"I know so."

"Well you're not exactly the best person to decide what's right or wrong are you?"

Rukawa's eyes flashed. "What the hell is that suppose to mean?" he snapped.

"If you didn't understand what I just said, I'm not about to make you understand!" she snapped back.

"Is that all you have to say?"

"I don't intend to say anything to you!" she answered. "You were the one who came up to me!"

Rukawa was about to say something, but stopped and looked over her shoulder. Kira turned and saw Sendoh by the door, his eyebrows meeting in the middle, and he was glaring at Rukawa.

"Is there anything wrong?" he asked in his hardest voice.

Rukawa glared at him. Behind him the Shohoku and Kainan basketball team looked curiously on. Behind Sendoh was the Ryonan and Shoyo Basketball Team, also looking curiously on. Rukawa and Sendoh continued on their staring contest, while Kira turned from one player to the other.

Unable to handle it, and her rage full to bursting, she turned away from Sendoh and stalked off past Rukawa, hitting him in the shoulder, accidentally on purpose and snapped, "If all you two are going to do is stare at each other until someone dies, I'll go and leave you two it. Kaede, I never wanted to fight with you, this is entirely your fault and Akira, stay away from me for a while, I'm just not in the mood!"

* * *

Rukawa turned to see the stamping back of Kira walk farther and farther away from him. He dearly wanted to apologize, to tell her this was all his fault and would they please, please, be friends again. Unfortunately, his pride just was not about to let that happen. Before he knew what he was saying, words that only encouraged both their anger were spilling from his mouth. 

Rukawa then turned back to Sendoh, who all of a sudden grabbed a fistfull of his shirt and had a menacing look in his face.

"What the hell did you do to her?"

He had never seen Sendoh Akira mad before, and it was rather a surprise to him. The surprise didn't register in his face at all however, as he glared defiantly back at him. "What I said to her is none of your business." he answered.

"Yes it is my business." he snarled back, "when you start hurting people I care about it becomes my business."

"Care about?" snapped Rukawa, taking back his shirt and glaring at him. "Is that all you feel about her? Care?"

"And what the hell am I suppose to feel?"

Rukawa smirked, still pure raw coldness in his eyes. "If you don't know I'm not about to tell you." he answered. _Kira's words, baka._

Sendoh's eyes turned to cold fury as he made a move to punch Rukawa in the face. Rukawa, born with the reflexes that were enhanced by bullies in his own school, ducked and grabbed Sendoh's arm, twisting it so that the arm was in Sendoh's back. Sendoh grunted a little. His teammates wanted to step forward, thinking that Rukawa was about to break his arm, but his cold hard glare kept them rooted to their own spot.

"If you only care for Kira," whispered Rukawa coldly, "then she doesn't deserve you."

"And you think you do?" he muttered back, wincing slightly.

Rukawa didn't answer right away. When he did, there was a note of tiredness in his voice. "Do you really think I'm enjoying this?" he asked.

Sendoh didn't answer. Rukawa let go of the arm and Sendoh massaged it and stood in front of him.

Rukawa wasn't glaring anymore. "I've just lost someone I love to an idiot like you and I just made it worse for the her and I. Do you really think I'm enjoying this?"

Without another word, he walked off, leaving four shocked basketball teams and Sendoh to ponder at his words.


	14. Chapter 14

Hello people, wow, thanks for the reviews!

**neko11lover**: That's okay, to be honest, I wasn't out of my crummy mood until about a couple of days ago, when the World Cup started! Really happy, Argentina won their first match! Yay! And Ecuador too! Yay!

**peek-a-boo**: thanks so much! Here's the next chapter, and yes, don't worry, this will be completed!

**jhydl:** will finish this, don't worry. all the chapters had been uploaded and just waiting their turn!

**zhen**: Er, what about Kira's name? Do you know something I don't?

**hala:** i think both are correct, i'm not sure, but i thought that what i wrote made sense...english isn't my mother tongue either.

**Sabrina**: Buongiornio! I knew I got that wrong! Grazie, er, right? Anyway, thanks for the review! Keep reading, k? Ciao! (Now, I know when to actually use ragazzi, i thought it meant everyone)

Guys, thanks so much for reading. If there are any errors, grammatical or typos or something, let me know, cause after the story's finished, i'll be editing everything. hopefully, that second read would be much more interesting cause everything's correct okay?

Here's the next chapter!

**You mean, Rukawa has a best friend?**

**Chapter Fourteen**

"I miss Kaede, Kae-chan."

The lion looked on curiously. Kira's face was reflected in the lion's eyes, but it wouldn't respond to her pleas. It just looked politely interested.

She sighed and looked out the window. Sunday afternoon, the sky was perfect, baby blue without a cloud in sight. The perfect day was mocking her. She should be out there, especially now that the weather was starting to warm out.

She thought of what Rukawa may be doing right now. Probably playing basketball somewhere. She thought most likely in his favorite court in the world. The one by the park. He's probably singing praises to the gods for getting rid of the snow.

_If he dares to sing, that is, _she thought, smiling a little.

The phone rang. She sighed with relief. Someone to talk to, someone who can actually talk back.

"Hello?"

For a fleeting moment, she had hoped that it was Kaede, but -

"Can I talk to you now?"

"Akira," she sighed, determinedly hiding her disappointment. She had been extremely unfair to him, refusing to talk to him - or to anyone else for that matter - ever since her blow up with Rukawa a couple of days ago. Spring break was upon them, and she pictured these two weeks a whole lot differently than what she was appearing.

"I take it you're glad to hear my voice?" he asked.

Kira smiled, and said, "Of course. I'm really sorry."

"That's okay."

"I've been really unfair to you." her voice was small, achieving that guilty voice that she was targeting.

"Don't worry about it," he answered airily,"You can just make it up to me."

"Really?" asked Kira, her voice perking up. Shestood up straighter,"How?"

No answer came for a few seconds. Kira thought that he was thinking. "Well," he said, "you can start by coming out of your house."

Kira looked out the window. She refused to get out of her home ever since Saturday, after the match, no matter how many times Sendoh asked. He had called once every couple of hours, only to be told that she didn't want to talk to anyone any time soon, much less leave her house.

Kira smiled, though Sendoh couldn't see. "Okay," she said, "it's a beautiful day, why not?"

* * *

Finally, Sendoh thought as he put the phone down. 

He looked at the phone for a few seconds before grabbing a new change of clothes. After a couple of days of coaxing and the occasional prodding, Sendoh had finally managed to get Kira to do something apart from moping in her room.

He knew that she was extremely sad, to the point of depressed, but he thought that moping around the house wasn't going to help her situation. He thought that the best way to get her to forget her depression was for them to do something.

He rushed towards Kira's house, jogging all the way. He thought that the best way to get rid of any depressing thought was exercise, and lots of it. At the same time, hemade sure that none of those exercisesinvolved basketball.When he reached her house, he rang the doorbell eagerly and a minute later, Kira answered the door.

He was grinning widely as he waited for Kira to open the door. He was just excited to be doing something with her again. She was quite fun to hang out with, more so to kiss, but, he thought, that could come later, when she was really out of her depressing state. His smile disappeared however when he saw the Kira that he would have to deal with.

"Kira," he said slowly, "you look –"

"Terrible, I know," she said in her most depressed tone. She pulled the door a little wider. "Come in."

Sendoh came in, all thought of exercising driven out of his mind by the sight of Kira.

She didn't really look terrible, but there was definite room for fixing up. Her hair was in a loose ponytail that didn't exactly catch her entire hair. She had not done a good job of getting rid of the make up in her face, though he didn't know why she even had make up on her face, she didn't go anywhere after all. Her clothes were rumpled and looked too large for her.

Her eyes were puffy and red which meant –

"Have you been crying?"

Kira looked like it was pointless to lie. "Yes." She answered dully.

Sendoh felt exasperation rising. "But…why?"

"Because it's my perogative." She answered coolly. "I'm gonna get ready."

He sat down, feeling extremely incredulous still, and cursed Rukawa into oblivion. This, he felt was entirely his fault. Why the hell does he have to mess things up with his anger issues and possessiveness?

He really wanted to cheer Kira up, to tell her that Rukawa Kaede doesn't deserve her for a friend, much less a best friend, and he's probably suited more as dung for the plants of the earth.

Upon reconsideration, he thought that this would only depress Kira more.

Still, he wanted to do something special for her, but he couldn't think of anything at the moment, because Rukawa's words were still ringing in his ears.

_If you only care for Kira, then she doesn't deserve you._

Upon later reflection, and constantly asking himself to be honest with himself, he had concluded that he really did care for Kira. There was no 'only' to it, he thought with a frown in his face, he cared for her deeply, and would do most anything to make her happy.

However, he could never say that he _loves _the girl.

This was what Rukawa wanted to know. He wanted to make sure that he, Sendoh Akira, loved Yamato Kira. But no answer like that came from his lips. He knew that he would not be able to say it, much less mean it, and he thought that Rukawa knew that too.

Maybe that's why he's so against me dating her, he thought.

Then there was another sentence that rattled him.

_I've just lost someone I love to an idiot like you and I just made it worse for the her and I._

At first, he didn't understand. It was only when he reached his own home when Sendoh suddenly realized the impact of the words that Rukawa let loose from his mouth.

_Someone he loves._

All weekend he tried to block that one single sentence from his mind, but it kept coming back to him, like some ghost bent on haunting him until he finally cracks.

_Rukawa loves Kira._

The words had more impact on him that he ever thought that it would. Finally admitting it had finally stopped the constant repetition of the sentence in his brain, and he sighed of relief for that. Kira must know nothing about this, he thought. Well, she would know that he loves her, but in the platonic best friend sort of way.

At first, he thought that this was the way that he loved her. He was trying to convince himself that this was the way that he did love her, but as the sentence kept repeating itself in his head, he knew that it was _not _in the platonic way that he wanted it to be, but rather, the romantic way, the way that suggested that he, Sendoh, now had competition for the heart of Kira.

He knew he was fighting a losing battle.

Sendoh stopped thinking about it. It was depressing him, and he looked at the clock hanging on the wall. Kira had been up there for a full half an hour now, and there was no sign that she was coming down anytime soon. Sendoh stood up.

"Kira?" he asked tentatively.

There was no answer.

He made a way for the stairs, each step taken cautiously, as if he was gonna get caught sometime soon. When he reached the top of the stairs, only one door was slightly ajar. He saw a hint of pink in that room, and immediately went there.

He had the sinking feeling that Kira was not up for any day outside, no matter how perfect the day is.

He opened the door more widely, and immediately his heart poured out to her.

"Kira…"

She had not made any move to change, or fix her hair, or even leave her room. Her hair was still a mess and her clothes still the same clothes, too baggy for her. She wasn't sitting on her bed. Rather, she was leaning on a large stuffed lion that had a spot all to itself in the far end corner of the room. Kira looked at him for a brief moment, as he leaned on the frame of her door. She sighed and then looked up on top of her.

Sendoh's eyes also went to where she was looking. They were looking at a cork board, filled with pictures. Most of them were her and Rukawa. When he looked closer, he saw that in some pictures, there was actually a small smile in Rukawa's face.

_He must really love her, _he mused. _For him to be able to smile._

Sendoh walked towards her, and sat next to the her, also leaning on the lion. He instinctively put a hand over her shoulder, and she leaned on his chest. She wasn't crying, and she didn't show signs of having cried. She was just extremely depressed.

"I miss him, Akira…"

Sendoh knew he had lost.


	15. Chapter 15

Hi you guys! I'm back. Oh yeah, USA lost in football in the WOrld Cup, raise hands those who were surprised...yeah, I thought so. Anyway, Brazil won their first match as expected, and Switzerland tied against France yesterday! It's not a bad result, but it would have been better if they had won, after all that would give them three points instead of two, giving them a share at the top of the position in Group G, who is currently being led by South Korea. They won their first match against Togo 2 goals to 1. Switzerland's next match is against Togo, on Monday afternoon. I do hope they win.

**neko11lover**: Good luck with school! I hope it's going fine. I took geometry in my third year in high school, and it's really not that bad. All postulates and theorems, like vertical angles are congruent and stuff. Calculus, now _that _was created by a sadistic evil man bent on world destruction through melting the brains of the youth. Trust me on that one.

**Hala**: You reviewed again! YAY! Technically, they're not broken up, Sendoh just _knows _they'll break up. Anyway, just go and read.

**jenjen**: Hello! Are you new? Here's the new update!

**jhydl**: I hope I didn't take long to update in your opinion. Kaede'll be...Kaede, that's all I can say, wink wink!

Here's the next chapter!

You Mean, Rukawa has a best friend?

Chapter Fifteen

Shoot.

_Whoosh._

Score.

Shoot.

_Whoosh._

Score.

This was how easy life should be. Just throw a damn basketball and watch it go through the damn basket and make two damn points.

But nooo, _he _had to mess things up by fighting with his friend and losing her to a stupid smiling doahou in the course of a few days.

It amazed him that he was still able to make shots while his brain was racking up a course of action. Normally, he wouldn't think of anything when he was playing basketball. He had always believed that the best way to play basketball was when your mind was completely devoid of thought, with only the basket and the ball pictured clearly in his mind. Kira called it his 'philosophy'.

Upon the thought of Kira, the basketball slipped from his hand and hit the rim of the basketball. He cursed out loud, no one can hear him anyway, and truth be told, he didn't really care. He grabbed the ball and looked at it, thinking forthe first timein his life, if it was all really worth it.

"You thought about her, didn't you?"

Rukawa wheeled sharply around, a ready glare planted in his face.

Standing by the doorway was Sendoh Akira, not in his basketball uniform, but in simple casual clothes, sans the smile in his face, which Rukawa found a little unnerving. Sendoh _always _had a smile on his face.

He didn't look very angry either, none of the features in his face betrayed the fact that he was getting a more and more pissed off by the second. Rukawa's face however, consisted of nothing but his mounting dislike for his rival, and he would wanted nothing more than to shove the basketball he was holding down his rival's throat.

At first, Rukawa thought that Sendoh looked a little apprehensive of going any more close to him. Maybe he glanced at the ball and saw that Rukawa's nails were now boring into the ball. But there was the determination in his face that Rukawa only saw during their games. Rukawa fought the almost overwhelming urge to rush up and punch him.

Sendoh seemed to know what he was thinking.

"If you punch me, Kira would only get more mad at you." He said quietly.

"Hn." Said Rukawa, before turning away from him. He knew that, and he didn't need Sendoh Akira to tell him that. Maybe if he just ignored him he would go away. What the hell was he doing here anyway? He has no business here. He ordered him mentally, but staring at the basket, to go away and leave him alone.

Sendoh, however, was having none of that, and turned him around so forcefully that Rukawa let go of the ball he was holding. It rolled in the nearby benches, where, Rukawa thought with a pang, Kira would be sitting if they were getting along.

Then he thought he wouldn't have let go of the ball if he wasn't fighting with Kira and Sendoh in the first play.

"Don't act like you don't care," said Sendoh menacingly.

"I never said I didn't care," snapped Rukawa, "you're just implying that."

Sendoh looked like he wanted to punch him. Rukawa almost wished that he would. He knew he needed to have some sense knocked into him, and if Sendoh punching him was the way to do it, then he would gladly take the full blow.

Sendoh had let him go and backed a couple of feet away. "Do you know how stupid you are right now?"

_Yes, _he thought, but what came out was -

"Hn."

All of a sudden, Sendoh gave him a sharp blow to the head. Rukawa, who didn't expect that at all, stepped sideways and then glared at him, clutching his temple. He, Sendoh, was looking more angry that he had ever seen him. His face looked like it didn't know how to smile at all, and his hand was still balled into a fist.

Rukawa however, could not find the strength to fight back. He felt like he deserved that punch.

"Now do you know?"

_Yes._

But he didn't answer.

Sendoh had opened his fist, and fetched the ball. Rukawa wondered what he was going to do with it. He can't possibly thinking of playing one on one right now, and truth be told, he really wasn't in the mood for it. He walked back to where he was standing a minute ago, and presented the basketball to him.

Rukawa looked down at the ball in Sendoh's outstretched hand and then back up to his rival. "What?"

Sendoh glared at him. "Is this really all you'll ever care about?" he asked.

Silence.

Rukawa looked down at the ball again, and then back at Kira, and then back to the ball. He was almost on the verge of grabbing the ball, turning his back to him and continue practicing shooting, but the question shook him. It didn't show in his face, but he knew that Sendoh knew that the sentence would reverberate in the inner recesses of Rukawa's mind, and hopefully, his heart.

Sendoh really just had no idea how deep the sentence went into him.

* * *

They stood glaring at each other for a good two minutes before Sendoh let the ball drop back into the ground, bouncing away from the both of them. He didn't want to punch Rukawa, but the fact remained that the boy needed some sense knocked into him, and his anger towards his rival's cold, unflinching exterior was reaching the overflowing level. 

But he knew, he knew when Rukawa didn't take the ball from his, that there was more to him that what he's showing. He hoped that his question shook him out of his stupor, and – though he couldn't see it in his face – hopefully, Rukawa might actually start doing something about it.

* * *

Rukawa didn't retrieve the ball when it fell for the second time. Sendoh's question was still ringing in his ear. 

_Is this really all you'll ever care about?_

"No," he heard himself say.

"No?"

"No," he repeated, not focusing on Sendoh's face or anything else that's in front of him. "I care about Kira."

"You told me you love her."

"Because I do love her."

"And you mean that?"

At this, Rukawa's focus came back and he glared savagely at Sendoh. "Of course I mean it, doahou." He muttered. "I love my best friend." He had expected that the sentence would come out oddly from his mouth, but he found that it was the easiest sentence he had utteredandit was probably the most honest thing that he has said to himself in the past few weeks.

Sendoh didn't answer him.

"But she wants you," Rukawa's eyes were unfocused again, determined not to show any emotion in his voice, "she w-wants you, not me." His voice shook a little as he said it, betraying his unfocused eyes. "And I want her to be happy, and if that means that I have to put up with you for the rest of my life then fine."

Rukawa felt that this conversation was for someone who was much older than the two of them, but here they were, speaking in the way they were speaking. It was unnerving him, and he felt like he couldn't be prepared any less.

This thought however didn't register in his face. His arms were now crossed in front of him and he turned away, determined not to look at Sendoh. He didn't want nor need Sendoh to gloat in his face that he has lost.

However, Sendoh was chuckling.

Rukawa slowly turned his head to face him. "And what," he asked through gritted teeth, "the hell is so damn funny?"

"You."

"Me." He said coolly.

Sendoh then stopped chuckling, and suddenly he was all serious again. It was as if he never chuckled at all. "Do you honestly think that Kira's happy?"

Rukawa just stared.

"She misses you," he stated, "a lot."

The words echoed in his brain. Basketball suddenly became second priority.

"She's all depressed."

"De-depressed?"

Sendoh nodded. "She doesn't want to go out, all her smiles are fake, she's like a shell of her former self." He looked extremely grave. "She misses you terribly, Rukawa."

Rukawa didn't want to believe it.

"Believe it." Sendoh seem to have a knack of reading minds. "Don't tell me you don't miss her."

Rukawa thought that Sendoh could not have asked a stupider question. "I miss her," he mumbled, and added, "more than you'll ever know."

Sendoh smiled. "Good."

Rukawa then looked up at his senior. "But she has you," he said, trying to make sense of everything and hoping that Sendoh wasn't lying, "you're what she wanted all this time, and now she's not happy?" His face suddenly turned from confused to menacing. "What the hell did you do?"

Sendoh backed a step, hands in front of him. "I didn't do anything," he exclaimed, "this is really all your fault."

"Nani?" he snapped.

"Well," Sendoh said thoughtfully, "if you didn't snap at her last Saturday, you're probably getting along right now."

Rukawa knew he was right. He had already accepted that this was all his fault. He shouldn't have blown up like that. He had only accepted the fact that he was jealous when Kira had walked out of his gardens and back into her house.

"You're letting your pride get in the way," said Sendoh suddenly.

Rukawa looked at him.

"Your pride," he said, pointing at his heart, though Rukawa couldn't think that his pride might be possibly in there, "it's getting in the way. I suggest that you put it away and go to her and say, 'I'm sorry, I love you'".

Rukawa can't imagine anything harder. He looked at Sendoh like he had just grown six extra heads.

"It'll work things out on its own," he added, "but that would take forever. So you need to get a move on."

Now Rukawa thought he grew 8 more heads.

"Tell you what," he said, smiling now, "I'll even break up with her right now."

He was already making a move to leave when Rukawa grabbed his arm and pulled him back. "You're going to _what?_"

"Break up with her." said Sendoh, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"And why the hell are you going to do that!" He didn't need another reason for Kira to be sad!

"Leaves you free," he said simply.

If looks could kill, Sendoh would have died, embalmed, placed in a nice, respectable coffin and buried a good six feet underground right now.

"Rukawa, relax," said Sendoh, claiming back his arm, "I'm not going to hurt her, I promise."

"You better not." He threatened.

"I know, Rukawa," said Sendoh, walking away, "I know."


	16. Chapter 16

Okay people, I did some research on Kira's name, cause there's been people asking about it. Kira, as it turns out, originated in Persia, which is now Iran, I think, which is where my name originated from! In Cyrpus, Kira means 'sun', and it is popular in Japanese fiction. Kira, means 'light' in Japanese, but due to its pronunciation, it's been translated as 'killer'. That's why, in Japanese anime, there are characters that have the name and turn out to be killers. It's been known to some that Kira are names for people who are good but are also killers at the same time, e.g Kira Yamato (which is Kira's full name, funnily enough, purely coincidental though), who's a boy in Gundam Seed who's really good but kills enemies in war. There, everyone happy? Great!

keia mizuki: Yeah, I was wondering what kept you from reviewing! But I'm glad you're back and reviewing again. Thanks for liking it!

jhydl: I'm uploading every three or four days. I just wait for the hit stats to get to fifty, then I upload again. So now that it's reached fifty, here's the new chapter!

neko11lover: Oh my goodness, you're right! Gomen gomen, sorry! It's supposed to be Sendoh, not Kira. Their first names sound so alike kasi e...I'm really sorry... Yeah, unfortunately Sendoh is breaking up with her. He likes her though..you'll find out of you read this chapter. And I don't know about you, but I sailed through geometry fine. Algebra, I was able to do okay. Calculus was a killer. I took it twice in UP before I passed it. All those horrible theorems...limits and I just don't co-exist.

DigitalLavender: Yay, new reader! Kira's name is explained over there at the top.

moodygal: That's okay. As long as you keep reading!

jenjen: Thanks you! Here's the next chapter!

* * *

You Mean, Rukawa has a best friend? 

Chapter Sixteen

When Kira answered the door the next afternoon, she could sense foreboding. She was usually accurate in sensing things. If you were best friends with one of the coolest humans on earth, how can you not be? But she didn't really use that to describe Rukawa Kaede, not to his face, anyway.

When she saw Sendoh standing there, she could immediately tell that whatever he had to say was something that wouldn't be to her taste at all. Although a smile was planted in his face, his eyes weren't holding the same cheerful look he usually had back when their lives weren't so complicated.

She never imagined that fighting with Rukawa would complicate things to no end.

Then again, they didn't fight often. The last time that they fought was way back in junior high, when someone, in other words, every girl in their school, planted in Kira's head the idea that she would never be as important to Rukawa than basketball.

The more they told her this, the more the idea tightened its hold in her brain, until finally, she blew up and had a big shouting match in the middle of the hall, which culminated in Kira throwing a basketball in Rukawa's face and declaring that if he loved the game so much he might as well marry it, and then reminded him that he shouldn't invite her to that wedding.

The fight was now completely ridiculous to her, but they were so angry at each other that Kira decided to go to another school rather than the one where Rukawa was going. Summer came and went, but they didn't patch things up. Kira had felt the same feelings that she was feeling right now: loneliness, and longing to hang out and be friends with Rukawa once again. But it was only until a month after their start of high school did they patch things up. It even happened in the most obscure way.

She had seen Rukawa in the Ryonan High Gym, leaning at the open door. In the beginning she did a double take, to make sure that that really was Rukawa by the door. She knew she couldn't be mistaken. That was his profile all right. She noticed that she had gotten taller then, and she was having a great debate in her mind whether or not she should go up to him and talk.

To help her, a ball went wooshing past Rukawa and landed on her shins. Whoever threw it was powerful, and her shins stung on impact. She winced when Rukawa turned, but she grabbed the ball, and threw it back to one of the players, someone called Koshino, who apologized profusely, gave Rukawa a curious glance before going in the gym and closing the door behind him.

She was rubbing her shins when Rukawa was suddenly just three feet away from him, and muttered, "are you okay?"

Kira nodded mutely, not really sure what to say. All that came out of her mouth was, "hi."

"Hn."

She tried to stand up straight, but her shins still stung, and the point of impact was starting to turn red, and in a few days, form a large blue bruise.

"You're not okay." he muttered again.

"I'm fine," she retaliated, not looking at him directly in the eye.

He pointed on his back. "Come on."

She frowned. "What?"

"Hop on."

"No."

He glared. "Now."

She nodded,enjoying the prospect ofa piggyback ride."Okay."

After that, it was as if the fight never happened.

Kira now thought that it would take more than a hit in the shins with a basketball to fix their relationship. Sendoh was looking at her, apparently thinking of what he should say, or how he should say it.

Kira decided to help him. "Is it good news or bad news?" she asked.

Her stare demanded the truth, so Sendoh said weakly, "Bad."

Kira sighed. "You're breaking up with me, aren't you?"

He didn't answer.

She wasn't stupid. She had seen this coming. She even expected Sendoh to break up with her sooner than this, on the count that she had been acting like someone who hasn't gone over their previous relationship. She knew that Sendoh didn't deserve that, nor did she want that for him. He needed someone who, for one, be happy to see him, and two, not wallowing in self pity.

She felt herself smile, a small fake smile that she had been wearing for the past week. "I knew you would." She finally said.

Sendoh didn't look amused at all. In fact, he even looked slightly frustrated. "Do you know why?"

She nodded, and answered in a dull voice, not looking at his face but instead at his feet. "Because I've been nothing but a stupid depressed girl wallowing in self pity and searching for something that there's no way for me to get?"

"That's a stupid reason."

She looked up, startled, "What?"

Sendoh repeated. "That's a stupid reason."

She rose to her full height. She didn't appreciate having anything to do with being stupid right now.

"Do you want to know why?"

"Pray tell," she said sarcastically.

"I'm glad to see your sarcasm hasn't been sucked out by your depression and wallowing-ness."

She snarled.

"I'm breaking up with you," he began, "because you love someone else."

Kira didn't answer. Then –

"_What?"_

Sendoh let himself in, pushing her back, sat her down next to him, and held her hand. "Listen," he said, "I like you. I really, really like you, and you like me too, right?"

She nodded. There was no need to talk, just nod or shake her head as his eyes bored into hers.

"Though no matter how much I like you," he said, then hesitated, looking down, then looked at her weakly and said, "I'm sorry, but I just don't love you."

Kira felt a small stab in her heart. Though strangely, she thought it should have hurt her more than that.

Sendoh looked at her straight in the eye. "Kira, do you love me?"

Kira saw nothing but the truth, the raw question was boring in her head, and before she could stop and think about it, she felt herself shaking her head.

Sendoh gave her a small smile. "I knew you don't," he said, "but there is someone you love isn't there?"

His eyes demanded the truth, she could feel it, and she knew no matter how convincing her lies might sound, he would know what those are and would demand the genuine, true answer from her. She felt herself nod, as only one man was pictured in her mind, and that man wasn't the one whose eyes reflected her face.

"I love Kaede," she whispered.

"Knew you would," said Sendoh, a small benign smile in his face, unlocking his eyes from hers and resting down the couch.

Kira blinked a few times, and stared at Sendoh. "Did you just hypnotize me or something?" she asked shrewdly, narrowing her eyes.

"I have that effect on women," he answered, smiling. He looked exhausted, but in a satisfied sort of way.

Kira looked away from him, not sure whether what he was saying was the truth, or even if it made any remote type of sense. Then she looked out the window. This was, by far, the easiest break up that she had had in her entire life. Feeling slightly guilty, she turned to Sendoh, "Sorry if I led you on or something," she said weakly.

Sendoh waved it off. "Like I said, I really like you," he said, "I want you to be happy, and I know you'll be happy with Rukawa more than you'll be with me."

"But I like you too." she said weakly, in a high small voice.

"And I would put that dearly into my heart," he answered, clutching his chest dramaticaally, "But I'm sure that I'll find someone who would like me enough to love me and vice versa."

"I'm sure that would happen," smiled Kira.

Sendoh flashed a grin at her. "With looks like these, how can it not?"

Kira threw a pillow at him, then gave him a hugged him sideways so her head was resting on his chest "Thanks Sendoh."

Sendoh put a hand on her chin, lifted her face and looked down at her. "Now just because we're not together doesn't mean that you can't call me Akira anymore." He said.

"Right," she said, "thanks Akira."

Sendoh hugged her tight.

"We're still friends right?"

"Of course."

She knew that that was all they would ever be.


	17. Chapter 17

Hi guys, thanks for reading the last chapter

neko11lover: Hello! I kept it in suspense? I kinda thought it was obvious or something, oh well, I'm glad that you're liking it. I hope you did well on your exam, and Math is my worst subject, trust me on that one.

moodygal: Well, yes, I did the research, it was easy. People kept asking about it and I thought it was high time to get things straight so I did. Here's the next chapter!

* * *

You Mean, Rukawa has a best friend?

Chapter Seventeen

"Do you think Rukawa would mind?" asked Sendoh suddenly, after ten minutes of silence.

During ordinary days, Kira can just go to her neighbor, barge in his door without knocking, sit in his bed, shake him awake, duck from the punch that would come three seconds later, and then ask him if it was okay for her and Sendoh to be friends.

However, things weren't exactly the same now. It was far from ordinary. She gave Sendoh a pained slightly helpless look before going out the window and sitting on the sill.

The best part in their living room, she thought was the large window. She could sit on the sill all day without a care in the world as her view showed nothing but open fields, since that side of their home was next to an open field, a lot that hasn't been bought yet, so therefore no house.

"Wish I could ask him," she said, both her legs on the sill now and resting on the window, looking out at the bright blue sky. She wished it would rain, it would reflect her mood more.

"I'm sure he wouldn't mind." He said.

Kira turned to him. "Then why ask?"

He shrugged helplessly. "Conversation starter?" he asked. "It seemed like a good topic … at the time."

Kira gave him a wry smile and shook her head. He stood next to her and looked out the window as well. His large hand suddenly came and settled itself on the top of her head, much like an older brother. For a few seconds, she felt like a cat being pet by its owner. "He'll come around," he said softly.

"I hope so," she answered. "I honestly can't take this anymore."

Sendoh said nothing. She continued on, voicing out her thoughts. "Maybe I can just go to him and –"

"Absorb another barrage of short one line phrases that'll send you shouting at the top of your lungs?"

Kira gave him a look. "You're not being very helpful."

"Sorry."

Kira sat there, confused. She didn't know where this conversation was going, and she didn't care. Sendoh gave her an apologetic look before he said goodbye. He's going to a basketball practice somewhere.

"He'll come around," he assured her. "Trust me."

She nodded weakly as she waved him goodbye. She didn't mean to distance herself from Sendoh so much, especially right after they ended things between them. But right now, there were more pressing matters, such as getting Rukawa to come around.

After a few more minutes of fidgeting, she peeled herself off the window sill and changed. She was going to find Rukawa Kaede, talk to him in the most civil way possible, promise herself she won't blow up, and hopefully, things would work out fine.

She had a bad feeling about this.

* * *

Basketball, Rukawa thought, think only of basketball from now on. 

He was guarding Mitsui Hisashi, as they met in the local basketball courts. He challenged him on a one on one, first to 20. Mitsui whole heartedly agreed.

No matter how many times he told himself to only think about basketball, Kira's face would suddenly pop in her mind, causing his concentration to break and Mitsui to pass him. He was losing, he knew it, and funnily enough, it wasn't bothering as much as it used to.

Mitsui seemed to have noticed as well. "Hey, Rukawa," he said, grabbing the ball as it bounced out of the court after his shot, taking his score to 16, 4 points ahead of Rukawa. "Are you alright, you seem out of it."

"I'm fine, Mitsui-sempai," he said, as politely as he could. He would never ever divulge anything about his personal life to his teammates.

"I just noticed," said Mitsui, "you're not your usual self." He passed the ball to Rukawa.

Rukawa quickly attacked and made two easy points. Mitsui was still standing near the three point line, apparently dazed at the quickness that Rukawa's feet took him to the basket. "I think," said Rukawa, as he caught the ball, "that you should just concentrate on your game, Mitsui-sempai, and stop asking me questions that I would never answer."

Mitsui nodded mutely, getting the message. At least, Rukawa thought he got the message. Maybe he was just surprised that he, Rukawa, was talking again.

For Rukawa had been extremely mute for the past few days, even more so than usual. Ever since he and Sendoh had that talk in the exact same courts that he was in now, he hasn't said a thing to any of his teammates. Even Akagi-sempai and Kogure-sempai was asking him about his condition. He swore at the thought. Can't they see that he just want to be left alone?

"I think that I know now why you're being the way you are," said Mitsui suddenly, a small smile in his face.

Rukawa looked at him, but saw that he wasn't looking back. Instead, his eyes were going past him, over his shoulder. Puzzled, he turned around, and almost dropped the ball.

It was Kira.

Rukawa thought that whenever he sees her now, she would be with Sendoh. Then he reminded himself that Sendoh said that he would break up with her. He wondered how she took it. He tried to read her eyes, but it showed not sorrow, but anxiousness.

"Hey Kira!" Mitsui called out, waving his hand, a grin in his face. "You and Rukawa made up yet?"

Rukawa wanted to throttle him.

Kira gave him a weak smile and a wave, then quickly turned to Rukawa.

Mitsui had been looking from Rukawa to Kira, then back to Rukawa, then said, "Well, I know when I'm not wanted. Let's just say I won, eh, Rukawa?"

Rukawa glared at him.

Mitsui seemed to have taken this as confirmation. "Great!" he said, "See you around then! Kira, you too!"

He patted Kira on the back as he walked past her. Kira smiled again and nodded her goodbye, then turned again to Rukawa.

Rukawa was still holding the basketball. He began dribbling it, then –

"So, realize your mistake yet?"

_Stupid, stupid, stupid.

* * *

_

Kira seemed to be momentarily unbalanced. "I _beg _your pardon?"

She wanted him to repeat what he said. She wanted to know that he didn't say what he just said. She wanted him to say something, anything other than that sentence again.

But he didn't say anything.

In fact, he looked like he didn't know what to say.

"Kira, I-" he started to say, but Kira's blood was already boiling.

"You still think what I did was a mistake?" she snapped. "How stupid can you get?"

The problem with the both of them, they both knew, was that when one of their temper starts to boil, the other's temper was sure to follow.

"I am not being stupid!" snapped Rukawa. "How dare you-"

"How dare I? _How dare I? HOW DARE YOU!" _shouted Kira, pointing an accusatory finger at him, her face contorted in arage that she knew was completely unattractive, but right now she didn't care, "I CAME HERE THINKING THAT MAYBE WE CAN WORK THINGS OUT AND YOU WELCOME ME WITH THIS?"

She turned around and stalked off. She wasn't going to try and reconcile with someone who still thinks that her decisions was the result of an unwise judgement.

"Well if you didn't come out and tell me I'm stupid, then we wouldn't have this argument in the first place!" He was following her, and getting closer.

"THAT'S BECAUSE YOU ARE BEING SO STUPID RIGHT NOW! IF YOU JUST TRUSTED THAT I KNEW WHAT I WAS DOING THEN MAYBE WE WOULDN'T BE FIGHTING RIGHT NOW!"

"I told you!" snapped Rukawa. "I do trust you, it's him I don't trust!"

Kira had crossed the street, without even looking to see if there were any approaching cars coming. Right now, the cars were not both of their concern.

"YOU JUST DON'T LIKE HIM BECAUSE HE'S YOUR BIGGEST RIVAL!"

"NO! I DON'T LIKE HIM BECAUSE HE'S DATING THE ONLY GIRL THAT I WANT TO BE WITH!"

Kira stopped and stood stock still. Did Rukawa just shout? And more importantly, did he just shout what she thought he shouted?

Rukawa had stopped in the middle of the street, breathing hard. It had come out, finally, and he felt his shoulders droop, as if an enormous weight had been lifted off his shoulders. This wasn't how he wanted to confess those feelings. In his thoughts, he was actually just whispering the words, not shouting it in front of the whole world to see. In addition, he wasn't confessing it in the middle of a street.

Kira hadn't turned around. The words were still making its way all over her body to her brain. _Please, let me have heard right._

Rukawa, meanwhile, was still standing in the middle of the street, waiting for Kira to turn around. He took a step forward, starting to walk, but as he took a step, a squealing of tires can be heard. He looked to his left. So did Kira. A car had just rounded the corner sharply, in about a 100 kilometers per hour, just 50 meters from Rukawa.

"KAEDE!"

* * *

First of all, DON'T KILL ME. Please, don't. I beg you, he's gonna be...well, you'll find out next time. Please, don't kill me...


	18. Chapter 18

First of all, thanks you people for not killing me! I update really quick naman e, I won't keep you in suspense for very long...

Hala: Er, I think this is my only cliffhanger for this one, don't worry, about seven chapters to go after this, and I update really fast, you won't have to wait long. hope you liked the photograph chapter!

jenjen: er...aw? I kinda left it with Rukawa getting run over by a car and you say aw? I like you, you're funny. hehe...anyway, here's the next chapter.

Sabrina: You reviewed again! I'll make it up to you I promise, here's the next chapter. By the way, congrats on Italy making it to the knockout round. Switzerland made it too. We're battling it out with Ukraine...hehe..big grin in my face right now. Good luck! Ciao!

neko11lover: I'm glad to know the worst thing you can do to me is to injure me within an inch of my life. Here's the next chapter, and good luck in geometry! How you holding up to that anyway?

* * *

You Mean, Rukawa has a best friend? 

Chapter Eighteen

The sequence of events kept playing itself over and over Kira's head in slow motion. She tried to shake it off, but the more she wanted it gone, the more it presented itself in a sharper focus.

The driver was speeding. He was late for some appointment and jumped in the car and floored the gas. Kira watched in horror as the car turned sharply and noisily, without a let up in the speed at all.

Kira saw Rukawa's eyes widen. He was starting to walk, but when he saw the car, he froze, like a deer in headlights. Kira screamed as the car hit Kaede head on in the stomach. She screamed his name as he rolled over the car and hit the cement with a dull thud.

"KAEDE!" she screamed, running to him and lifting his head. He was unconscious. His head was bleeding. "Please, Kaede, wake up, please, wake up," she sobbed. She shook him slightly, but he remained unconscious.The blood was flowing from the side of his face to her arms and her clothes. Tears flowed down her face freely. A number of people were coming out of their homes. "SOMEONE CALL AN AMBULANCE!"

Five minutes later, Rukawa was in a stretcher and headed to the nearest hospital. Kira came with the driver of the car, who insisted on taking her there. He also insisted to pay for the hospital bills, and for all the damages.

The ambulance and the car came at almost the exact same time. Kira jumped out of the car and quickly followed Rukawa's unconscious form, which was now in a bed, surrounded by many nurses and a couple of doctors. She noticed vaguely that her arms were streaked with Rukawa's dried blood, and her clothes were slightly stiff in small spots because of the blood that seeped through them, but she didn't care about that now.

"He got hit by a car," she said strongly. She stopped crying in the car, telling herself that this was not the time to break down. "Please tell me he's going to be alright."

"We'll do as best as we can." The doctor assured her. They came to a door. "Please, miss, you have to stay here."

"I'm his best friend!" she cried, looking at the doctor unbelievably. They can't possibly do this to her, not them too. "His parents are not in the country, I'm the closest to a family that he's got!"

"I understand, Miss –" he looked questioningly at her.

"Yamato."

"Miss Yamato," confirmed the doctor, "but only doctors and nurses are allowed here. We'll be checking for internal bleeding and broken bones. I will find you when we are done."

Kira nodded mutely, as the doors closed in front of her. The driver of the car had given her a card with his contacts, and he promised that he would pay for all the damages. He left distraught, but not as distraught as Kira.

Kira sat by the chairs near the emergency room, alone and staring into space. She felt tears silently flowing down her face, but she made no effort to wipe them away.

This was all her fault, she thought. If she hadn't gone to find him and try to talk to him, then he would still be playing with Mitsui-sempai, and then he wouldn't be at the road and he wouldn't have been run over.

It all led back to her.

This was all her fault.

He would never forgive her.

After half an hour, she found herself holding her cellphone and found herself calling a number, Sendoh Akira.

"Hello!"

Sendoh's cheerful greeting stabbed through Kira's heart like ice.

"Sendoh.." she sobbed.

"Kira," said Sendoh's voice, though it was lower now and slightly worried, "are you okay? Where are you?"

"I'm in the hospital.."

"WHAT?" said Sendoh, "What are you – are you – "

"It's not me, it's Kaede."

"Rukawa?" he sputtered. "What happened – is he okay – are you hurt – is he – what's going on!"

Tearfully, she recounted the entire story, and by the end of it, she was sobbing loudly. Her sobs were echoing on the deserted hall.

She hung up. Sendoh said he was on his way. She needed the company, she felt like she was going to go mad if she just stayed sitting there by herself. The thought that this was all her fault was starting to make her skin crawl. For the first time in her life, she wanted to be somebody, anybody else.

She was starting to scratch her skin, her bloodstained skin, to hurt, to feel the same pain that Rukawa was feeling right now, to inflict the same damage that she caused, that Rukawa was enduring because of her stupidness. Her scratching was starting to hurt, and starting to leave deep red marks in her arms. She wanted to crawl out of her skin, she had never felt more disgusted of herself than now.

Her nails was causing deep scratches now, but a couple of hands had stopped her. She looked up. Sendoh was leaning, looking at her worriedly, holding both of her hands.

Kiralooked at him, threw herself at him, and broke down completely.

* * *

"Shh," said Sendoh softly, not knowing what else to say, "he's going to be okay." 

"It's – all – my – my – fa – fault!"Kira sobbed in his chest. Her voice was muffled, but he understood every word that came through in between her tears. He felt his shirt was wet with her tears, not that he minded. "If – if – I – di – didn't – g – go – and – fi – find – him – th - then – he – wou – wou – wouldn't – ha – have – bi –been – run – o – over – by – a – a – a – car!"

Sendoh's heart ached for Kira, but at the same time, he didn't know what to do. He had never been put in a situation like this. The only thing that he knew to do was what he was doing right now: holding Kira and ensuring her that it was going to be okay, though he had no idea of knowing if it might be just that.

Coach Toaka had not appreciated Sendoh's decision of suddenly going away, but when he heard about Rukawa's condition, the coach paled and sent him off without another word. He had wanted Rukawa in the team, and he would feel that he was a great loss if any of Rukawa's injuries caused him to stop playing basketball.

The other players of Ryonan were shocked as well at the news. It was then that he realized that none of Shohoku knew what happened yet. He wondered if he should be the one to tell them, but right now, that was not the current problem on deck.

"It's going to be alright, Kira," he reassured her. _I hope._

Kira looked up at him, disbelief in her teary eyes, but before she could say a word, the door to the emergency room opened.

Kira quickly wiped her tears away and stood facing the doctor anxiously. Sendoh stood straighter as well, looking at the doctor curiously, and slightly less anxiously that Kira was.

"Doctor," said Kira croakily, "is he – "

The doctor was wearing a green operating uniform and a hair net type of thing to cover his hair. His mask was at his neck and his gloves were slightly bloody. Sendoh's heart raced at the sight. The gloves were in his pocket, with the intention of hiding it. Sendoh thought that Kira might have noticed, but thankfully, she was looking intently at the doctors face.

The doctor gave them a small warm smile. "He's going to be fine," he said.

Kira's knees gave way with relief. Sendoh caught her before she hit the floor. The doctor looked worriedly at the two of them and pointed to the chairs. "Are you family?" he asked Sendoh.

Sendoh shook his head. "A friend," he said, sitting Kira down, she was still shaking, "Kira here is who you should talk to."

"May I ask," said the doctor, "the parents?"

"They're away, in another country," informed Kira breathlessly, "I'm the closest link you've got."

The doctor nodded, his understanding. He knew the family name, Rukawa, which Kira gave, was a prominent name in the technology sector in Japan.

"I will be informing his parents, don't worry," said Kira, then asked, more anxiously, "is he really going to be okay?"

"For a guy who got run over by a car," said the doctor, "he's relatively lucky. He has a few common fractures, mostly his floating and false ribs. They will heal in a few weeks. Apart from that, he has no other injuries. His spine is okay, his brain is okay, no torn ligaments, tendons and such. He's a relatively lucky guy."

_A very, very, lucky guy._ Thought Sendoh.

"However," said the doctor, "he has lost a lot of blood and –"

"I'm a type O," said Kira, "O's can give to anyone right, I'll give now – "

"Yes, O's can give to anyone," said the doctor, "Rukawa is in face a type O himself –"

"Then what's the problem doctor?" asked Sendoh.

"Rukawa is type O negative."

Sendoh felt his heart drop. O negatives were extremely rare. He looked at Kira, she seemed to have seen the problem as well. If only his parents were in the country, Sendoh cursed.

"I'm already a type O," said Kira, who looked determined not to lose any hope, "Please check if I'm O negative."

The doctor looked worried. "Checking blood types - "

"Please doctor, this is an emergency," said Kira, her tears starting to fall again, "I can't lose Kaede, I can't. Please, check, take my blood right now, I'm in a perfectly healthy conditon, I can give blood. Please doctor."

The doctor looked at her.In all his years in the emergency room, he had never seen a girl's face both etched with desperation and hope. This, he thought, was what he worked for."All right," he said, "Follow me."

* * *


	19. Chapter 19

Hi guys, I'm back with the next chapter! Thanks so much for reading and/or reviewing.

Elena: Hello new reader! Thanks for deciding to read at last. Yes, I know my biggest problem is my pronoun use, fret not, I will do better!

jhydl: I know how you're feeling. My laptop has a minor technicality now and as a result I can't use the internet there, so I'm using my sister's. Thank you sister! Hopefully my own laptop would be up and running next week. Anyway, thanks for taking the time to read this!

insomniac: I know my english is not as good as i hoped, and you're right, i think it should be stupidity. Sorry!

Sabrina: First of all congratulations on the Italian victory. Wish I could say the same for Switzerland. They lost to Ukraine, sniff. It was so unfair, they lost on penalty shootout! It's not right, especially when it was obviously clear to all those watching that the Swiss team should have been awarded at least one penalty shot! A Ukrainian tripped a Swiss in the penalty box, it was so obvious, but nooooo, that referee didn't see it, how unfair! Oh, did you see that game? They were so heartbroken, I couldn't look at them properly. Anyway, Ukraine's taking on Italy next and I hope they looooose...crush Ukraine okay? It would really make me feel better...

For those who are watching the world cup, you'd understand how I'm feeling.

Hala: Thanks! Here's the next chapter!

neko11lover: Yes, there's an O negative type blood. They're really rare, so whenever a doctor or a hospital finds someone that has that blood type, they always encourage that person to donate asmany times as possible, provided that they're in healthy condition of course, because the blood is so rare. Just a little trivia for you, and why do I have the feeling you're lying to me about geometry?

* * *

You Mean, Rukawa has a best friend? 

Chapter Nineteen

The next few minutes were some of the longest for Kira. Sitting there, watching the people go back and forth with doctors and nurses shouting out instructions to each other. Everything seemes to be going way too fast, and people were scraming way too loud. She felt like she was going to go deaf.

She rubbed the spot were the doctor took a few millimeters of her blood. The doctor used one of the larger needles, and though apprehensive at the sight of the needle, she swallowed her fear and presented her arm. When the doctor had taken enough, she stood up quickly and said, "Is that it? Are you sure? I can give more –"

"They've got what they need, Kira," said Sendoh reassuringly.

The doctor gave them a small smile as he instructed the two of them to get some rest. "As soon as the results come in," he said, "I'll let you know. It's only a few minutes."

Kira decided to handle her anxiety bywatching Rukawa. He was still unconscious, and there was a large turban of bandages warapped around his head. There was a spot of red in the side of his head. The moreshe looked at it, the less anxiety she felt, since the blood spot didn't seem to grow bigger.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Sendoh stand up. She looked at him and turned completely around, and saw the doctorapproaching them. He was expressionless, and Kira took that as a bad thing.

"I'm not a match?" she asked desperately.

The doctor turned to her, then to Sendoh, then to her again. She was gettingmore and more flustered, thinking that the doctor wasdoing this to createfrigging tension.

Then, finally-

"If you would come with me, Miss Yamato," he said lightly, "we can take your bloodright now."

Kira couldn't help but feel a little lighter, as she nodded enthusiastically. She looked up at Sendoh, wholooked tired, but was smiling anyway.

Taking her blood didn't take over an hour. She didn't really have the sense of time anymore, in the urgency to get her blood out of her system, into a bag, and into Rukaw's body. They took her height, weight, and in next to no time, there was a small tube from her arm that took blood all the way to a small plastic bag next to her, labeled O (-), 500 mL.

Once the bag is filled, the nurse took out a tube and covered the pinpoint hole in her arm with a band aid. "That's it," she announced.

Kira looked at the bag. It was full, and it's half a liter, but -

"That's it?" she asked the nurse, and then turned to the doctor and Sendoh. "But that's not enough!"

"That's half a liter of your blood, Miss Yamato," the doctor said incredulously.

"Yeah," she retorted, "But what if he needs more? Come on, take more, it's okay! I agree to whatever clauses you've got!" She tried to stand up from the hospital bed, then suddenly, she felt light headed, and clammy.

"Kira!" said Sendoh suddenly, supporting her back into sitting in the bed. "Are you okay?"

Kira nodded. "Yeah," she said, "I just feel light headed."

The nurse then gave her bread and some juice. "Here," she said kindly, "that feeling's normal. This will help."

She took it with a mumbled thanks. Sendoh insisted that she eat it right away, so she did so.

After finishing the bread, she looked up. She didn't feel so dizzy anymore, and looked up at Sendoh. "Where did the docotr go?" she asked, when she saw that she and Sendoh were alone.

"I'm here," the doctor suddenly announced. They both turned to him. He had a smile in his face. "Well, I'm happy to say his body's accepting the blood just fine. That would speed up his recovery."

Kira nodded, and grinned up at Sendoh who was smiling back.

"See," he said, "I told you he's going to be okay."

She nodded silently, and looked at the doctor. "Thank you, doctor."

"No problem," he said, "now, you go home and get some rest, you can visit him in the next few days."

* * *

Kira and Sendoh had walked out of the hospital a few minutes ago. Sendoh had insisted that he walk her home, no matter how many times she refused. After the fifth time of his insistence, she gave up and let him. They walked silently, Kira was too absorbed in her own thoughts. 

"Maybe I should tell Captain Akagi," said Sendoh suddenly, cutting the silence like a sharp knife.

"Huh?" asked Kira

"I should tell Akagi and the rest of the Shohoku team," repeated Sendoh.

"Why you?"

"So you should?" asked Sendoh, "Look at you, you're in no condition to even walk home, much less –"

"No, Akira," said Kira firmly, "they'll want to know exactly what happened, and I was the one there and I could tell them everything."

"But," asked Sendoh silently, "will you be able to?"

Kira didn't answer. Finally, she nodded, "Of course," she said, "blubbering about what happened today isn't gonna make time go back and make it so it didn't happen. I know what I'm doing, and I'm the one who's gonna tell them. Besides, I have to tell Kaede's parents as well, and I'm sure that that's a lot harder than the basketball team."

Sendoh smiled and nodded. Kira didn't smile back, not because she didn't want to, but because she can't. truth be told, she didn't know how to tell Rukawa's parents. She had their office numbers and they're somewhere in Europe, maybe she can just leave a message…

But that would seem so rude, she thought.

She was still lost in her thoughts when she realized that they were standing in front of her house.

"Are you sure, you're going to be fine?" asked Sendoh again, looking at her straight in the eye.

Kira nodded. "I'll be fine," she said, "school starts tomorrow anyway, so I can have something to do besides wring my hands." She tried to smile again, but couldn't. "Don't worry, I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

Sendoh nodded, but still looked worried. He hugged her tight. Kira didn't know whether she should hug back, but before she can make a decision, Sendoh had let go.

"You know," he said, "when I said that he'll come around, I didn't mean for it to be like this."

"It's not your fault, Akira," she said, "don't worry. It'll be fine tomorrow, okay?"

He nodded, and kissed her forehead. "Call me if you need anything, okay?"

She nodded. She waved goodbye as she saw him being engulfed in the darkness.


	20. Chapter 20

Hiya guys!

I am happy to report that Ukraine lost! Mwahahahahaha! Sorry, ehem, I don't have anything against Ukraine, except that they beat Switzerland in the knockout round. Therefore, Italy won! Congrats, Sabrina! I'm rooting for Italy now, since Argentina, and Switzerland had been knocked out. Good luck on your next match, I think you're playing...Germany? Anyway, good luck!

Here's the next chap!

You Mean, Rukawa has a best friend?

Chapter Twenty

* * *

All through the next day at school, Kira was completely distracted. This didn't fare well with all her teachers, and she got consistently told off after every class. They asked what was happening to her, but she didn't answer any of them, instead telling them that it was personal. 

They didn't like this answer, but didn't press on. Instead, they all warned her that if she keeps this up, maybe she'll just have to lose her place in the honor roll.

Right then and there, Kira couldn't care less. She listened vaguely enough to them to realize that she was being threatened, but for the most part, she was anxiously waiting for the doctor's call. She didn't silent her phone during classes, in case he calls. It hasn't rung yet.

She also hasn't spoken to Rukawa's parents either. Their office numbers were in her pocket, and she had called both of them last night. Both their secretaries said that they were in an important meeting and cannot be disturbed. She left with them her number and a message, saying that their son was seriously injured and is in the hospital.

Her phone rung. She jumped. Most of the students in the hall looked curiously at her, as she pulled out her phone from her pocket. There were no teachers in the hall and rushed out the school gardens before one of them decides to come out and check whose phone rang.

She looked at the screen.

_Kaede's mom_

She answered it. "He-hello?"

"Kira?" said Rukawa's mom's anxious voice, "are you all right? What happened to Kaede? What's going on?"

"Mrs. Rukawa," she began, "he was in a car accident. He got – he got run over by a c – car."

Silence came from the other line.

There was a sound of shuffling. "Kira," the voice said, which was undoubtedly Rukawa's father. "What exactly happened?"

From the gruffness of his voice, Kira's heart pounded at her chest. Slowly, she told the story, from their fight to the events from yesterday. She began strongly enough, but when she got to the accident, her voice cracked more and more.

"We – we took him to the ho – hospital, and – they – they took him to the emer – emergency room – and they said that – that his ri – ribs were broken and that he ne – nee – needed blood and they have to check if we – we – have the – s – s – same blood type, and I'm sorry Mr. Rukawa, I didn't mean for all this to happen! I wished it would've been me in the hospital instead of him and I wish none of this would've happened. I'm really sorry, sir, Mrs. Rukawa, please don't be mad – "

"Shh," said Mrs Rukawa's voice, for she was on speakerphone, since Rukawa's mom wanted to hear the story as well. "It's all right, Kira, it's not your fault."

"It's – it's not?" she asked.

"No, honey," she answered, for that was what she called her. "In fact, I'm glad you kept your head and took him straight to the hospital."

"Which hospital is it?" asked Mr. Rukawa.

Kira told him.

"Do you have a number, dear?" he asked, which was Mr. Rukawa's name for Kira.

"I have the doctor's name and number," she provided, and told him the details.

"Kira," said Mr. Rukawa kindly, for he was a kind man, a busy man, but whenever he is here, he makes it a point to spend a lot of time with Rukawa, and usually, she is dragged along with him, "don't blame yourself, dear, alright? We're sure that you've done everything that you can possibly do in the situation."

"Thank you sir," she said, sniffing lightly.

"We'll be flying back as soon as we can," he said.

"I'm really sorry, sir."

"It's all right, honey," said Mrs. Rukawa, who sounded like she was sobbing slightly as well. "We'll be calling you again soon."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Take care of yourself, okay, honey," added Mrs. Rukawa.

"Yes, ma'am."

They hung up first. Kira rubbed her eyes as her phone automatically hung up. She sniffed.

"Sounds like you're getting along really well with the family."

Kira turned. Sendoh was there, a small smile in his face.

This time, Kira managed a small smile. "They've known me since I was six. They treat me like a daughter."

"You mean, daughter-in-law," teased Sendoh.

Kira smacked him lightly in the head with her phone, but her small smile became a little wider. "That's not funny."

"You're smiling."

"That doesn't make it funny," she answered, "and right now's not the time to be teasing me about anything. We still have a situation here."

Sendoh's smile immediately became smaller, and nodded. "I know," he said, "I was just trying to cheer you up."

She smiled her appreciation.

"So how are you?" he asked as they headed to the cafeteria for lunch.

"Better," she said, careful not to elaborate that better means not being able to sleep last night for fear that something might have gone horribly wrong with the blood transfer, which was proved unfounded when she called the hospital the next morning.

"When are you going to Shohoku?" asked Sendoh, once they were seated at a table.

"Later," she said, "after school. They'd be wondering where he went off too, and I have the complete explanation."

Sendoh nodded. "Do you want me to –"

"Thanks Sendoh," she answered before hearing the complete question, "but I think I can do this on my own. It's not that I don't want you there – " she added hastily, for he was already looking disappointed, - "but I really think that I should be doing this for myself on my own. Okay?"

Sendoh nodded, understanding. She smiled at him. "Thanks," she said.

He didn't answer, leaving Kira on her thoughts on how exactly to tell the Shohoku basketball team.

* * *

Kira walked slowly to Shohoku High School, all the while thinking of how exactly she should saywhat she had to sayto the rest of the team. Up until then, she couldn't find the right words to explain the situation, but did feel comforted at the thought that whatever happened in the gym couldn't be as bad as telling Rukawa's parents about it. 

As she entered the school, a few students who stayed behind after school were watching him curiously, whispering amongst themselves. Obviously they noticed from her uniform that she's from Ryonan, and they all pointed at her, probably wondering what she was doing here.

She faced the gym doors. She could hear balls dribbling from the inside. She took a very deep breath, and pushed the door sideways.

No one took a second look as the doors slid open. Already, there were a group of girls there, and from their worried looks, Kira could decipher that they were looking for Rukawa.

"Do you see him?"

"No, do you?"

"But he never misses a basketball game!"

"Oh I hope he's alright!"

"I miss him already!"

Kira didn't look at any of them, and fought her way to the front, to see the entire basketball team. Some were practicing dribbling, other shooting. But their captain, Akagi, was standing by the benches, his arms crossed over his chest.

"Where the hell is he?" he demanded from Ayako, "it's not like him to miss a practice!"

"Don't look at me," said Ayako, "I'm not his baby sitter!"

"MAYBE HE THOUGHT THAT I'D CHALLENGE HIM ON A ONE ON ONE AND HE GOT SCARED AND RAN TO HIS MUMMY!" screamed Sakuragi, and promptly received a lump on the head from his captain.

"Doahou!"

"Itai…"

Kira took another deep breath and headed to the benches. Halfway through there, Ayako saw her and waved frantically, causing the attention of Akagi, Mitsui, Ryoga, Sakuragi and Coach Anzai to turn to her. She gulped. It wasn't long before the rest of the team turned to her.

"Erm, Akagi-sempai?"

Akagi looked down at her, though not threateningly. "Do you have any idea where Rukawa is?"

"He got scared of me, didn't he?" piped in Sakuragi cheerfully. This caused another lump on top of the lump that he's already got.

Despite her feelings, she did mange to smile at Sakuragi's antics. She then turned to the rest of the team, "I know exactly where Kaede is," she informed.

"Oh, good," said Ayako, looking slightly relieved. Kira felt pained to be the one to return the worried look back to Ayako's face, but the pained look was ignored when Ayako faced her more cheerfully and said, "so where is he?"

She didn't answer right away. She bit her lips as she looked at each and every one of them

"Kira," said Mitsui seriously, "we need to know where he is."

"He's in the hospital." she blurted out. "He's unconscious in the hospital because he got run over by a car."

Silence.

"NANI?" they all shouted at her. The whisperings began and soon all the girls by the door started to cry.

She recounted the story. She didn't stutter this time, but did stop a couple of times during when she got to the part where Rukawa was run over by the car.

Their expressions were worse than she ever imagine. Coach Anzai sat silently in the bench, his eyes can't be seen behind his glasses. The first four of the team stood in stunned silence, unable to say anything. Even Sakuragi looked extremely solemn. Ayako and Haruko had their hands over their mouths, their eyes, wide with shock. Kogure was paler than usual, his lips trembling slightly. The rest of the team was too shocked to move a single muscle.

"I'm really sorry!" she cried, "I didn't mean for any of this happen! This is the last thing that I want to happen! Please, don't be mad!"

Akagi looked down at her. Menacing though he looked, a small smile that broke in his face ensured her that for the time being, she was going to be all right. "It's not your fault," he whispered. Then he dropped one of his big palms on her shoulder. "What about you? Are you all right?"

"Yeah," added Mitsui, standing next to her, concern in his face. "Are you okay?"

Kira couldn't help but smile. They cared enough for their team mate to ask specific team mate's friend about her condition. "I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" asked Ryoga.

She nodded. Ayako and Haruko then led her to the benches. She didn't know it but she was shaking a little. The shock hadn't worn off as completely as she would have hoped.

"It must have been horrible," said Haruko silently.

It was then that Kira hadn't made true of her promise to Haruko yet. She made a mental note to talk to Rukawa about it once he wakes up. "It was," she said, "but I'm sure he's gonna pull through."

A shadow then cast over her face. She looked up and once again, Akagi was standing over her. He looked like he was contemplating something but found the words to say what it was extremely hard to find. Kira had a shrewd idea what it was, though.

"I think Kaede can still play basketball once he recovers," she informed the captain.

She knew she guessed right when she saw the relief that took over the captain's face. "You think so?"

"Hmm," she nodded. "He had fractures of the ribs, but it's going to heal nicely. He needed blood, and we have the same type, so I gave mine." She then smiled. "Besides, can we really stop Kaede from playing ball?"

This cause a smile in Akagi's face and nodded in agreement, before going back to the rest of his team, giving them their instructions. She saw Coach Anzai approach him, maybe asking him what he needed to know.


	21. Chapter 21

Hi guys, I researched ribs. At first I thought they were like nerves or something, but I was wrong. It turned out that they are bones after all, as the reviewers had pointed out. there are 24 ribs, 12 pairs in all. There are three kinds: true ribs, false ribs and floating ribs. True ribs are attached to the breat bone, while the false ribs are attached to the last true rib, while the floating ribs are attached to the spine and not attached to the front at all. The ribs protect the lungs, the heart, and the stomach, amongst the other body parts located in that region. I guess in Rukawa'scase, he was really lucky.Oh, and about the blood loss, I really wouldn't know, because I've never had a blood transfusion before, but in this case, the hospital had some small smount of O negative blood, but they needed more.

Sabrina: Ciao, Sabrina! Felicitazione! Buono giuoco ieri! Er, that's all I know, I'm not even sure if that's right. Anyway, congratulations on the game last night! I watched every minute of it, it was so exciting. I was ready to have a heart attack if they went to penalty shootout, but thank the heavens you won! I'm so happy, I was jumping up and down up until midnight last night! Congrats! A presto!

jhydl: Hope you like

neko11lover: yes, I like to think that Sakuragi-kun is a very sweet person, er, deep deep deep down.

Elena: Er, math has nothing to do with this story, it's just a little conversation neko and I have, oh and about the ribs, you were right, read up there, sorry, I'm not a doctor e...Really sorry.

jenjen: Thank you!

You Mean, Rukawa has a best friend?

Chapter Twenty One

It was then that Kira noticed that there were no red heads amongst the team in the middle of the court. She looked around. Sakuragi Hanamichi was sitting in a far end corner of the court, looking down at the floor. She excused herself from Ayako and Haruko and went to Sakuragi.

When she got closer, she saw that Sakuragi was huddled, his head hang down on the floor. She didn't think that he noticed her approaching. She sat down, Indian style next to him.

He looked slowly at her, then turned back to the floor.

"Hi," she said softly.

"Hn," he grumbled.

"Are you all right?" she asked.

He mumbled incoherently.

"Sorry?"

"I don't really hate him," he said suddenly, looking at her.

Kira didn't say anything.

"I know that he's slightly better than me," Kira fought back a smirk,"and we fight often, but I never wished that he would go to the hospital." he began to sit the same way she did and facing her directly.

"It's not anyone's fault," said Kira, trying to convince herself as much as Sakuragi, for deep in her heart and mind, she couldn't help but blame herself for all that's gone wrong.

Sakuragi looked up at her. She was surprised when she saw that he genuinely looked worried. "But what if he doesn't get better? Or what if he can't play basketball anymore? I won't have a rival anymore, then this game won't be any fun!"

Kira stared at him. "You like playing this game because of Kaede?"

"Not entirely," said Sakuragi reasonably. "But my fights and competition with him makes the game more...lively, and it wouldn't be as fun if he can't play anymore."

Kira didn't know what to say. She wondered whether he had been this open to anyone before. Sakuragi looked down at the floor again. She smiled at his figure. She liked this Sakuragi, the honest, not too boastful, sincere kind. She then started rubbing his back. "He's going to be fine, Sakuragi-kun," she said, "and no one can really stop playing basketball, you know. I'm sure, once he wakes up, he can't wait to be back in here."

Sakuragi looked at her, and smiled. "What about you? Are you all right?"

"I feel better," she said, "I'm not the only one worrying about Kaede after all. I really thought I was the only one."

"A lot of girls will be worried about Rukawa once they hear the news." said Sakuragi, who then turned to the door. "You better ask for a private room for him, he's not gonna get any rest once they find out where he's at."

"I know," she said, smiling, "I'm sure his parents are working on it."

Sakuragi looked at her. "You are all right now, aren't you?"

"I'm better."

She smiled.

Sakuragi grinned.

"We're going to be all right, aren't we?" he asked.

Kira nodded. "Sure we are," she said. Talking to Sakuragi had cheered her up significantly, "Us redheads, we're survivors. We'll get through this."

Sakuragi nodded, and Kira decided to stay and watch practice, imagining Rukawa practice in front of her.

* * *

Hello! 

Since Rukawa had figured that he was more talkative in his dreams, he decided to shout. He was in the dark, he knew, since everywhere around him was darkness. He didn't know what was going on, but decided that maybe there were people around him there, somewhere.

Can anyone hear me?

His voice echoed on and on, until it disappeared into nothingness. He shouted again, but none respond.

He was on the verge of giving up when –

_Kaede…_

He looked up, but saw nothing. He could have sworn someone was whispering his name…

_Kaede…_

Kira?

_Kaede…_

Kira!

_Wake up…_

But I am awake!

_Please, wake up…_

Rukawa looked at his hands, and felt his face. His eyes were open…that means he's awake. He told dream Kira so, but it just said _Wake up… _again.

He then realized that this was a dream, so he pinched himself hard on his hand, and felt himself shake…

He was waking up…

"Good morning," greeted a voice he didn't know.

He groaned silently. Whoever this person was, and by the sound of the voice, it was a she, she was letting the light in from the window. The sun hit him directly in the eyes, and he promptly turned away from the window.

As he turned, he winced, and instinctively his hand went to his torso. He looked down and saw it was completely bandaged.

This isn't his room, he thought, as he looked around. Everything was white and there was that strong hospital smell.

As soon as the smell hit him, he remembered being hit by a car, and hitting the cement road hard, and Kira's screams…

"How long have I been here?" he asked the nurse, now that he now had a good look at her.

"Oh, about three days," said the nurse. "You've broken your ribs, um.." she looked at the clipboard holding all his information, "…Rukawa, and you were unconscious, until now."

"Who brought me here?" he looked up and saw a bag full of blood with the blood type, O(-).

"Your friend," informed the nurse, who had a small smile in her face, "your lady friend, with the red hair."

"Kira…"

"Yes, that's the one," she said, shaking her head, "we all saw her come in with you, she was crying her eyes out. Poor thing."

"Crying?" asked Rukawa.

The nurse nodded. "She calmed down enough to tell us all about you, and she left supported by another boy, about as tall as you."

_Sendoh, _he thought, with a mix of gratefulness and white hot jealousy. He looked at the blood bag again. He knew that his blood type was rare, and his parents weren't in the country so…

"Where did you get O negative blood?" he asked the nurse.

The nurse looked slightly concerned at the question. "Oh, you're very lucky Rukawa-san," she said, "we didn't have a lot of that blood in stock, only about 200 ml, and you needed more."

"So where did you get it?" he asked again, slightly irritably.

The nurse smiled this time. "It turned out," she said, "that you and your lady friend, Kira-chan, share the same blood type." She pointed to the blood, "that's her blood right there."

Rukawa didn't say anything, but felt extremely comforted. _Kira's blood in my body…_

"The dear wanted to give more," said the nurse, smiling at him, "but she already gave half a liter, more than enough."

Rukawa looked out the window. The fact that her blood, his best friend's blood, the blood of someone he cared for most in the world, the blood of the woman he loves, was flowing in his veins, was giving him warmth and comfort he usually feels during victories in basketball games. Though his ribs were throbbing slightly painfully, he didn't notice it at all. He wondered when she'll be visiting...

"I'd expect that you'll see her later," said the nurse, reading his mind. He glared slightly at her, returning to his normal self, but the nurse just smiled and said, "after school. I'll be back with your breakfast then."

She closed the door after her, not seeing the small smile that formed in Rukawa's face as he looked out the window.


	22. Chapter 22

Okay guys, people have criticized me for getting my medical jargon wrong, and stuff like that, so here's what I did. I rewrote chapters 18 to 21. It's not large changes, but they are significant. I urge you to read them, I only changed a few things here and there, but the plot is generally the same. Since reviewers like Clostridium (good name by the way, I'm inclined to Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli myself, Clostridium botulinum is too deadly) and Elena have commented on my lack of knowledge in the medical business, I decided to do some research and the end result is me rewriting a few chapters! Thanks, by the way you two. I really appreciate it.

Oh, and I am sincerely sorry to everyone for being as Clostridium put it, amateur - ish. What can I say? I'm an idiot.

Anyway, here's the next chapter.

You Mean, Rukawa has a best friend?

Chapter Twenty Two

"I'm telling you, we're going in there!"

Sakuragi and Mitsui leaned in hard in the nurse's station, glaring down at a frightened looking young nurse behind the desk.

They had arrived in the hospital ten minutes ago, the rest of the Shohoku Basketball Team right behind the two of them. They marched imperiously to the nurse's station and not asked, but _demanded_ to know exactly where Rukawa was staying.

So far the nurses were holding their own. They refused to disclose the information, informing them that the patient wasn't allowed any visitors except for the one allowed by the patient's parents, and no, they weren't included in that list.

"But we're his teammates!" protested Ryota. "Look at us, we have flowers and candy and everything!"

Indeed, many of the players were laden with a number of things, from flowers to chocolates to candy to get well cards, even CDs of girls shrieking their get well greetings. Once word got out that Rukawa was in the hospital, the entire female population of Shohoku High marched to the gym and buried the team beneath a number of gifts, gifts that they were carrying now.

"I don't see why those girls can't just come here and take these themselves!" grunted someone underneath a large rose bouquet.

"I'm really sorry, sirs," stuttered the nurse, "but we're not allowed to let you go in there without permission from the –"

But she was interrupted by her telephone ringing. She picked it up. "Hello?" she asked. She nodded a few times, said yes, nodded again, wrote something in a piece of paper, said that she understood and she'll do so right away, then hung up the phone.

The whole team looked curiously at her as she flashed them a smile. "Well you guys are in luck."

"What?" asked Mitsui.

"Are we gonna be let in?" asked Akagi.

The nurse nodded. "That was Ms. Yamato," she said, "I'm sure you know her."

"Red head!" cried Sakuragi happily.

"She said that you're to be allowed to visit," said the nurse, nodding in their direction, smiling slightly, "and she has a message for you to relay to Mr. Rukawa."

"Let's hear it then," answered Akagi.

* * *

Rukawa was bored. 

He was bored out of his mind.

He grabbed the remote and violently changed the channel in the television, not staying in a channel for more than two seconds before changing it. He needed something to do. Something, anything at all, lying in bed without a thing to amuse him was driving him up the wall.

Which is ironic, because his torso hurts everytime he tries to move too much, much more if he attempts to drive up a wall.

When he got bored of switching the channels, he looked up at the blank ceiling, wondering if he'll have any visitors today. It was nearing sunset. Surely, if he had any visitors, and he prayed that they wouldn't involve any shrieking fan girls, they surely would have been here by now.The nurse said that he might, and she even hinted that it would be Kira. He hoped that what she said was true.

He doesn't truly care if he had any other visitors. He had assumed that he and Kira were now friends again. After all, if there was anything that can happen that can make you make up with your best friend, it was getting run over by a car.

He sighed. He was bored again, there had only been one message from Kira,which came with a bouquet of a dozen light pink roses this afternoon, during lunch, arranged beautifully in a white vase. The nurse had brought it in after his lunch, which he hated, because it taste like Styrofoam, but he didn't voice out his complaint.

He looked at the flowers, and the card that lay next to it. He picked it up, for the seventeenth time in five hours to read it again.

_Hey Kaede,_

_I'll come visit as soon as I can, please take care of yourself._

_I'm really sorry this had to happen to you. This is all my fault._

_We'll talk later, ne?_

_Love you._

_Kira._

_Love you, _Kaede read and reread that line over and over again, each time sending a tingling sensation at the back of his spine. He wondered whether Kira blushed as she wrote down the words, he had hoped she did.

When he read the note the first time, he thought that it was positively incredulous of Kira to think that this was all her fault. If anything, it was his fault. He was the one who decided to stop in the middle of the street, and it was he who didn't move when he saw the car careening towards him at racing speeds.

_But, _he thought, _no one can possibly avoid that thing. _

He positively blushed when the door suddenly opened an hour ago while he was reading it, and saw the doctor that was attending to him beaming.

"Lovely flowers, aren't they?" he asked. "You sure are one lucky man."

"I'm alive," he said bluntly.

"That's not what I meant," said the doctor cheerfully enough.

Rukawa had said nothing. He knew the doctor didn't mean that he was lucky to be alive. He already knew he was lucky to have Kira, there was no point in gloating it in front of anyone, especially a doctor. Rukawa merely glared him, who didn't seem to notice, as he checked the condition of Rukawa's torso.

Beside Kira's name was a small drawing of a basketball, which reminded him of something.

"Hey, doctor."

"Yes, Rukawa-san?" he asked.

"I'm still gonna be able to play basketball aren't I?" he asked. He had seen many athletes stop playing because of injuries, and he was determined to not become one of them. He still had games to win, dreams to conquer, and a certain girl to impress. "I will be able to right?"

The doctor looked at his torso, and then up at him and smiled. "There seems to be no extensive damage to any of your muscles, joints, ligaments and tendons. Just your ribs. They're broken."

"How long till they heal?"

"Give it about a month and a half, maybe two." he answered. "Don't aggravate them. If you do, it'd take longer to heal."

_Two months, _he told himself, _it's justtwo months. _His sensible side was sighing with relief, thinking that it could've been much worse for him, while his other side was screaming,_Two months?Two frigging months? What the hell am I suppose to do fortwo months!_

_We could date Kira fortwo entire month, _he countered, er, himself.

_Twomonths? _Just_two frigging months? Come on, doc, saythree,four, even fivemonths away from the courts!_

Inwardly, he laughed, but showed none of it in his face and he merely nodded.

That was an hour ago, and Rukawa looked up as he heard the door of his room opening again. _Kira._

He had raised himself slightly in the possibility that it might be Kira, but slumped just as quickly when he saw that it was, instead, his team mates.

"Well, don't look so happy to see us!" said Mitsui, crossing his arms.

"Shut up," he snapped.

"You were expecting someone else?" asked Ayako, who looked delighted to see him awake.

Rukawa turned away from them.

"A girl, perhaps?" added Ryota.

"Red head!" shouted Sakuragi. Rukawa glared at him. "I would challenge you on a one on one but I'd have an unfair advantage, and I'm sure to be wiping the floor with you ass!" Then he did his tensai laugh.

Rukawa smirked. "I can beat you even if I'm just lying here."

"I'D LIKE TO SEE YOU PROVE IT KITSUNE!" he was on the verge of attacking him, but stopped himself abruptly, straightened up, and said, "I won't fight you now, kitsune, because you're injured."

Rukawa stared at him. So did the others.

Sakuragi looked more serious than he ever had been before. "But Kitsune, once you can play again, you owe me a one on one game."

Rukawa stared at him still, and found that he appreciated Sakuragi more than he ever did before. "You got it," he mumbled, "do'ahou."

"How you feeling, Rukawa?" asked Akagi.

Rukawa shrugged not answering.

"I'll take that as you're doing fine," said Akagi dully.

"Coach Anzai wanted to come with us," said Mitsui, "but he's away on some other business, he sends his blessing though."

It was then that between Mitsui and Ryota's heads, Rukawa saw a bunch of large overly decorated flowers. "What the hell is that?" he asked glaring at the arrangements.

"Well," answered Ayako, "word got out that you were here."

"I'll bet," said Rukawa dryly.

"Well, Kira had said that she absolutely forbade any of your fan girls to come anywhere near your room, citing that you won't be able to defend yourself from them."

_Such a great girl, my best friend is._

"So when they heard that we were gonna visit, they made us carry all their presents to you." Finished Ayako.

And with that, the floor of his hospital room was laden with flowers, candy and chocolate, amongst many other things.

Rukawa glared at the gifts, and then turned to Ayako again. "So they actually followed the order?" he asked, thinking that if there was a word to describe those shrieking girls, it wouldn't be obedient.

Ayako grinned slyly. "Kira also threatened a restraining order over _all_ their heads."

_Such a wonderful, lovely, amazing girl, my best friend is._

"Speaking of Kira," began Akagi, "she has a message for you."

Rukawa looked up at his captain expectantly.

"She said that she's sorry that she can't come here right away, and that she'll be coming here tonight, maybe a little bit late and that she'll be staying the night because she wants to look after you, don't bother waiting up, and she might be bringing some food because she knows that you're bound to hate hospital food, and that you should take care of yourself and follow the doctor's orders. Oh, and she's bringing your Playstation II as well, with all the games and stuff." Akagi looked like he was trying to remember something, then said, "Yep, that's the whole message."

_Yes! She's staying the night! YES! _

Rukawa nodded. "Thank you, Akagi-sempai." not betraying any hint of the excitement inside him.

"No problem." grinned Akagi, who seem to know full well that the message was bound to cheer his ace up.

Rukawa then turned again to the presents in the floor. He saw Mitsui, Sakuragi and Ryoga eyeing some of the chocolate with interest. The rest of his teammates were clapping his shoulders and whispering words like, "Get well soon," and "Hope you'll be able to play soon," and "We've been real lousy without you," which was cheering Rukawa slightly.

"You can have those," he mumbled, pointing to the chocolates and candy and glaring at them, "I don't really want it. I don't think I'm even allowed to have any of those yet."

They took this as their cue to grab all the chocolates and candy they could find. They did look quite delicious after all.

Ayako took it upon herself to take the flowers and sent it to the far corner of the room. When she made the move to take Kira's flowers from the side table, he grabbed her wrist and said sharply, "No, that stays there."

Ayako smiled knowledgeably. "Of course," she said, "Sorry, I didn't see it was from Kira."

Rukawa turned away from her, and blushed lightly.

After a conversation with Captain Akagi about his, Rukawa's, career, which was easy and light, now that they all knew that he could still play after a month's rest, the nurse had come in and told them that it was time for them to go. Akagi patted his shoulder before going. So did the rest of the team, except Sakuragi who was glaring down at him.

"You better get well soon, kitsune," he said, "so I can beat you soon."

"That'll be the day," scoffed Rukawa, glaring at Sakuragi. "Do'ahou."

Sakuragi glared at him and turned around and walked to the door. "Feel better," he said, not looking at him, then added, "baka kitsune."

Rukawa was starting to think that Sakuragi might not hate him so much after all.


	23. Chapter 23

Hi you guys!

I am so excited to report that ITALY WON THE WORLD CUP! I was up for most of the night last night, first off to watch the match, and then second celebrate the win! I just saw that the Italian team is back in home soil to a rowdy welcome! I was literally shaking last night, because the game went on in penalties. I was ready to just scream at the television if the Italians lost, and mind you my euphoria's not yet over.

Elena: Oh, no sweetie, don't worry about it. I'm glad that you did write about it, many thanks to you! Oh, and I like Sakuragi too, he really does sound like the perfect guy friend for me anyway.

moodygal: Kira's gonna show up soon, don't worry.

neko11lover: Kira is somewhere...let's just say she's somewhere okay? Cause to be honest, I never really noticed that Kira wasn't there until you guys mentioned it.

Sabrina: Hi! I'll bet you're really happy. Did you cry again? I didn't, but I was jumping up and down like a maniac at midnight, with my sister glaring at me (she supported France). Anyway, congratulations on the win!

keia mizuki: Yeah, I noticed that she wasn't there when you said she wasn't. I didn't think anyone would mind much. Oh well, Kira's in here for sure.

Clostridium: Escherichia, I think that's how you spell it, though I realy wouldn't know. Let's just say E. coli, that's much easier, don't you think? Anyway, thanks for basically making me edit the last four or so chapters. I needed that kick. Oh, and don't worry if you thought you were agressive. I've had worse (look at the reviews for Photograph, SImone wants my head), and I didn't think it was agressive at all. Thanks again!

On to the story!

* * *

You Mean, Rukawa has a best friend? 

Chapter Twenty Three

Rukawa's eyes were half closed, his head, kept dropping off to one side. He looked at the clock directly across the room. It said that it was eleven thirty in the evening, and it only caused him to be even sleepier.

Kira had not come in yet, he had hoped that she would have been here hours before. But then she said that she will be late, he thought, and that he shouldn't bother waiting up for him.

Like many things that Kira had asked him to do, he had ignored this one too. He was determined to stay up, to watch the door open and see Kira enter, with a smile in her face. Unfortunately, his eyes and mind weren't cooperating.

The nurse seemed to have taken Kira's line of reasoning as well, as she came in a few hours ago to check up on him.

"You need to rest, _now,_" she said, scolding him like a small child. "There's no point in waiting for your friend, she'll be really late, and you're not supposed to put any stress in your body, especially since your ribs are still healing!"

He didn't answer, but did wince in pain as he tried to sit up a little straighter. The healing process was much more painful that he had anticipated, and to help with the pain, the nurse sometimes would give him a small dose of painkillers.

She gave him a dose when she came in, and it was numbing the pain to the point when he can ignore it. However, the painkillers also aroused sleepiness.

He had fought them off for the past hour, but as his head bobbed up and down, and his eyes slowly closed, he knew he couldn't fight it off any longer.

* * *

Eleven forty. 

Kira checked her wristwatch and sighed with relief. The hospital was mercifully still open to accept visitors until midnight, when they would close for a little bit of cleaning up. She rushed to the nurses' station and confirmed that Rukawa's room was indeed room 205.

She had wanted to visit Kaede a great deal earlier. If she had it her way, she would have been in the hospital as soon as the final bell in school rang. However, she had meetings to attend to, a certain spiky headed boy to update on, and an excuse to miss school the next day.

She wandered the school after classes to search for her teachers, inform them that she won't be coming tomorrow and would they please give her an overview of the topics that they would be discussing the next day.

They happily obliged, and she left school laden with a folder thick of papers ranging from the sciences, geography and math.

When she left the school, darkness had already engulfed the sky, and she walked quickly back home. When she got there, she found that her mother had just returned from Taiwan, and she was fixing dinner. It seemed rude to run out of her without an explanation, so she spent a good hour explaining what her situation is and could she please please go to the hospital right now.

Her mom bombarded her with a number of questions, which they discussed over dinner, and by the time it was over, it was already nine in the evening.

She took out a bag and took a day's worth of clothes, and some food, which, after thinking about it for some time, were perfectly healthy for someone confined in a hospital. She took a shower before she went to Rukawa's house.

She played for a few minutes with the thought that she can bring her guitar. Upon thought, she decided against it, thinking that carrying Rukawa's game console along with a few of his clothes, in addition to a few of her own clothes was quite enough to carry along a sterile hospital corridor.

It took no time persuading the maids to let her in and take Rukawa's Playstation II. She took a few games, and then a few of his clothes. She knew Rukawa would have wanted her to put in a basketball in the bag, but she quickly dismissed the idea and figured that he wouldn't miss it, eventually. Putting the Playstation in the bag, she smiled. She had a shrewd idea that he was bored out of his mind there and it seemed like such a good idea at the time.

She didn't take into account that the game console was made up of one metal box and lots of wires.

_Thank god this isn't heavy,_ she thought, looking at the console inside her shoulder bag.

When she found Rukawa's room, she took a deep breath and slowly and quietly turned the handle. She peeked slowly inside. The room was dark, save for the moonlight that was coming in through the window. The moonlight showed Rukawa slightly, and he was already sleeping. Kira wondered when he had actually fallen asleep.

She stepped slowly and carefully inside, closing the door silently behind her, and placed her two bags in a bench. She smiled when she saw the flowers she sent on the bedside table and smiled even wider when she saw the rest of the flowers for Kaede in one of the corners of the room.

Kira stood over him, next to the bed, and wiped a few stray hairs off her face. There was no long bench in the room, just one chair next to Rukawa's bed. She sat on it, and suddenly yawned. It had occurred to her just now how tired she was. Without realizing it, her head dropped on Rukawa's bed and she fell fast asleep.

* * *

Rukawa's eyes opened as soon as the sunlight poured in from the window. He yawned widely, but silently, and then stopped cold in the middle of rubbing his eyes. 

He was so glad to woke up early.

Kira's head was directly beside his left arm, and he stroked her hair softly, making sure that she doesn't wake up. When she stirred slightly, he stopped, and relaxed and looked at her when she didn't wake up.

He had missed her, a lot. Maybe his accident was a blessing in disguise. Tired of waiting for them to get their act together, maybe the gods said, to hell with it, and sent a car crashing to Rukawa.

Even in his head it was a ridiculous, but slightly amusing tale.

Just as he was contemplating on whether or not he should wake Kira up, the door opened. He looked up, intending to silence whoever was at the door, but then got silenced himself when he saw who it was.

"Hi?"

Rukawa recovered fast as he relaxed his shoulders and glared at none other than Sendoh Akira. "Shut up," he whispered, pointing down at Kira.

Sendoh looked at the sleeping figure that was Kira. He seemed rather surprised to see her there. Kira probably didn't tell him about it, he thought. "She stayed the night?"

Rukawa gave him the look that plainly said, _is it obvious?_

Sendoh nodded, getting the message.

"What are you doing here?" asked Rukawa, his voice low, and the glare ever present in his face.

Sendoh had always been immune to Rukawa's glares, at least, almost all the time. "Well," he said, in a whisper, "I came to see you, of course."

Rukawa glared even further. "Why?"

Sendoh cocked his head to the side. "Is it so wrong that I want to check how my rival's doing?" he asked.

"Yes."

Sendoh raised his arms in indignation. "Come on, Rukawa, I'm not that bad!"

"Shut up," said Rukawa, as Kira stirred.

They both looked at her, and when she didn't move again, they resumed looking at each other.

"So," said Sendoh, with every attempt of making conversation, "how you feeling?"

Rukawa shrugged, stroking Kira's hair again. "I've been better," he said, focusing on Kira's hair.

Sendoh went to the other side of his bed. "You do realize," he said, "that you're more bonded to Kira now than ever."

Rukawa looked at him.

"Her blood," he said, "is in your body."

"I know that," snapped Rukawa.

"Bet you like that."

Rukawa didn't answer.

"Yeah, so?" he finally said.

"Oh come off it, Rukawa," said Sendoh, "you know you love it."

"Shut up," said Rukawa and glared at him.

Sendoh smiled down at him, and then his attention was caught by a bunch of flowers on the corner of the room. "What are those doing over there?" he asked. "They should be nearer you don't you think?"

"No," said Rukawa flatly.

Sendoh grinned knowledgeably. "It's from your fan girls isn't?"

Rukawa glared at him coldly.

"I'll take that as a yes," he said, fully satisfied.

"Why don't you make yourself useful and fix my Playstation," ordered Rukawa.

Sendoh looked at him questioningly.

"My playstation," said Rukawa slowly, as if talking to a five year old. He pointed at the black bag near Kira. "It's in there, and the TV," he pointed at the TV on the ceiling, "is right there. So why don't you make yourself useful and set it up?"

"And why would I want to do that?"

"Because you're already here."

Rukawa wasn't sure whether Sendoh was really gonna do it, so instead of glaring at him into submission, he focused his attention back to Kira's hair, which he was still stroking. He could've sworn he heard her purr softly. He felt lighter at the thought.

He had forgotten that Sendoh was still there until he let out a loud sigh. Rukawa looked at him, he was grinning at him and pointed at the table, where he had fixed the console and attached it to the television. "There," he said, "all done."

Ruikawa sat there momentarily stunned, while Sendoh grinned heartily at him. "You're still here," he said bluntly.

Sendoh grinned at him. "Well you said make myself useful."

After a full thirty seconds of staring at Sendoh, all that came out from Rukawa's mouth was a muffled, "Thanks."

"Anytime," said Sendoh, then added, "I've already done a lot for the both of you anyway."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Hey, I practically hooked the two of you up!" he said, smiling widely, "You owe me."

Rukawa merely glared.

After another thirty seconds, Sendoh said, "Well, I think this has been sufficiently awkward enough," he went to the door and opened the knob. He turned back to Rukawa. "Get well soon, okay?"

"Why?" asked Rukawa, "So I can beat you in basketball again?"

Sendoh shook his head, looking at him seriously. "So Kira can stop worrying and crying her eyes out for and about you." And with that he closed the door.


	24. Chapter 24

Aya chan: Kira's not really based on any of my friends, but she does seem like a nice friend to have, ne?

girlbreaker: One more chapter after this!

neko11lover: will check blog right now.

jenjen: wait no longer!

* * *

You mean, Rukawa has a best friend?

Chapter Twenty Four

"Yeah, take _that, _and _that, _and –"

"Good morning!"

Rukawa stopped dumb as he stared at the door. In the process of stopping, he lost the first round on his game, _Mortal Kombat_, and glared irritably at the door.

He had been playing for an hour now, and though many would expect Rukawa Kaede would be playing basketball, and only basketball in his PS II, they would be surprised to know that he also enjoys playing other genres, mostly involving people beating other people.

Sendoh had left the game console near enough for him to reach, and with remote in hand, he placed the TV on mute, so that it wouldn't wake Kira up. Then he started playing, muttering at times when he's winning.

Beside him, Kira had stirred and moved her head. She was moaning a little loud, and was soon going to wake up, thanks to the loud greeting that came from the person at the door.

"Whoops," said his nurse, with a smile in her face, "I didn't realize that your company was still sleeping."

"Now you know," muttered Rukawa irritably, pausing the game and looking at Kira.

Kira, by now had raised her head sleepily and looked at Kaede, her eyes half asleep. She moaned again as the sunlight hit her face, and pushed back some of the strands of her hair that was stuck in her lip.

After about fifteen seconds, her eyes opened fully and registered a look of surprised at the widely awake Rukawa. She blinked rapidly about ten times, an expression that Rukawa knew meant that she was slightly surprised but more confused.

"Good morning," he whispered.

Kira just blinked rapidly at him again, then stood up quickly, muttered quietly and rushed to the bathroom by the door.

The nurse just looked confused.

"That's normal," he muttered at her.

The nurse nodded, and smiled as she stood next to her. "She's such a sweet girl."

_How would you know?_

"Very pretty, too."

_I know that._

"You should count yourself lucky."  
_Hn._

"Well," said the nurse, still with her cheerful voice, "your ribs seem to be healing faster than before, we should be letting you out in a few days time."

He nodded, still not saying anything. He was staring intently at the door to the bathroom.

"I really should go, shouldn't I?" the nurse asked.

He didn't answer again.

"Is she your girlfriend?" asked the nurse.

Rukawa turned to her. His expression read somewhere between hoping to, and wanting to.

"Not yet, huh?" asked the nurse. "Well she already gave you her blood, maybe she can give you her heart now."

_I hope so_

"I'll leave you two alone, now," she said, closing her clipboard. "I'll be back for your lunch."

Rukawa watched her close the door behind her. Once the door closed, the bathroom door opened, and Kira came out. Her hair was fixed smoothly now, she had let it hang down, and her face was freshly washed, and a small shy and slightly embarrassed smile was in her face.

"Hi," she said softly.

Rukawa didn't answer her.

"How are you feeling?" she asked, her expression slightly pained.

"I've been better," he mumbled, patting the place where Kira's head had been, indicating that he wanted her to go there.

Kira smiled again, and sat at the bed, looking extremely worried. Rukawa saw in her eyes that she wanted to dearly say something, and by the way her mouth was quivering, it wouldn't take long until it burst out of her.

Her expression was beginning to show her emotions, her eyes were starting to screw up and slowly becoming shiny with tears and her lips were quivering again, until –

"I'm so sorry!" she screamed, her tears falling now, "I didn't mean for all this happen! I didn't want to fight with you! I wish this never happened! I've been so stupid! I'm really really sorry!"

"Shh," said Rukawa, cupping her chin in his hand and wiping the tears away from her cheek.

"But I hurt you!" she was wailing again, "And you got run over by a car because of it, and I wish it would've happened to me instead and I want us to be friends again, and I missed you!"

"But we are friends now," mumbled Rukawa, holding Kira close, as she sobbed in his shoulder. Even through her slight break down, she was careful not to make any more damage in his ribs.

"We – we are?" she asked, through her tears.

Rukawa nodded, looking down at her. "I missed you too," he said, then spread out his arms across and stretched it, "_this _much."

Kira hiccoughed, and smiled.

"Really," he insisted, "this isn't your fault."

Kira nodded vigorously. "Yes it is," she sobbed, "if we didn't fight, then you wouldn't be run over by a car, and we wouldn't have fought if I didn't go out with Akira, and I'm so sorry!"

Rukawa wiped the tears off her face again, and she smiled at him afterwards. "Are we okay now?" she asked.

Rukawa nodded, slowly. "Yeah, we're cool."

Kira laughed lightly, she had never heard him say 'cool' before, much less in that light tone,and leaned on his shoulder, so that they were now facing the other side of the room, where the TV was, which was still paused. "He broke up with me, you know," she said.

"I know."

Kira nodded. "I knew you would," she said, "turns out, I didn't love him."

"No?"

"Kira shook her head, without leaving his shoulder. "No," she said, "I love someone else."

Rukawa looked at her, she didn't look up at him, which means that he was looking at the top of her head. "Really?"

"Hmm," she said, "someone really special." She looked up at him, and asked hesitantly, "How 'bout you? Do you love anyone at the moment, Kaede?"

Rukawa looked at the television again. He nodded, not looking at her, and though his heart was beating a thousand miles a minute, he kept his expression neutral. "I love someone," he said.

Kira's eyes, though still teary, looked a little bit brighter. "Really?"

He nodded.

Kira then turned to the flowers at the far corner of the room and pointed at them. "Did she give you those?"

Rukawa glared at her. "Baka," he said, and hit her lightly in the head.

This was then that Kira knew that they were okay, completely and utterly okay.

"I was just asking!" she cried, rubbing her head indignantly but looking at him playfully.

Rukawa's glare softened, and rubbed the spot in Kira's head that he hit. He then rested his arm on her shoulder and then pointed at the white vase with the light pink roses that were resting on the bedside table next to Kira. "She gave me those."

Kira turned slightly and stared at the roses. They were still alive and in full bloom, as she bought them when they were still closed. Though he couldn't see it, Rukawa knew that a smile had formed in her face and it was confirmed when she turned back to him, looking like all her prayers had been answered.

"Oh, _her,_" said Kira, "I know her, she's really pretty."

"I know," said Rukawa, playing along, "one of the reasons why I love her."

Kira shivered. Rukawa smirked. His arm was around her neck and over her shoulder. Their faces were only a few inches apart, and neither made no move of pulling apart any time soon.

Kira was light pink. "She's really nice too."

"Another reason why I love her."

Rukawa was slowly pulling her toward him, their lips only a few centimeters apart…

"And she really loves you…" she breathed.

"I know…"

Rukawa had pulled her completely and their lips met in a long, soft kiss.

Kira pulled back after a minute, breathing out slowly, and opening her eyes. Rukawa stared back at her, rubbing her cheek softly with his thumb.

"She's really lucky to have you," said Kira.

"I'm lucky to have her," retorted Rukawa, caressing her hair. "I missed you."

"I missed you, too."

"Do you think we'll fight again?"

Kira shrugged.

"Let's not fight again."

"Okay."

Rukawa tucked her hair behind her ear, and stared in front of him, in the exact same spot that Kira was staring at. "I missed you."

"You already told me that."

"I love you."

Kira smiled. "Now _that _you haven't said to me."

"Does this make you my girlfriend?"

"Why? Wanna be my boyfriend?"

"Yes."

"That's good."

"So you're my girlfriend."

"That's right."

"And my best friend."

"A two in one package."

"And I'm your boyfriend."

"Don't worry Kaede, I won't hold you back."

"Basketball?"

"I know she'll forever be your mistress."

"Shut up."

"No, I won't."

Silence, then –

"I love you."

"I love you too."

"Shut up."

"Wha-" she began incredulously but was quickly silenced when he pulled her back again for another equally sweet, but longer, kiss.

"See, I _told_ you they were busy."

They broke apart, and both turned sharply at the door, where, much to their embarrassment, there stood Mr. Rukawa, Mrs. Rukawa, the doctor, and the nurse, all with large grins on their faces.

"Ah, young love," said the nurse, who was smiling widely at them.

Rukawa turned to the Kira, who stared back at him. She was red in the face, and he felt his own face warm up and he was sure that he was flushed as well.

Kira, who had just now realized that she was still half lying in the a bed next to Rukawa Kaede, quickly got herself out of the bed, as if it had just burned her. She looked at Rukawa, a weak smile in her face, then turned to his parents and the physicians. "Good morning," she said in a rather small voice.

"Oh, honey, there's no need to be embarrassed," said Mrs. Rukawa, who had gone to her and hugged her tightly. "We've been through that."

"Bet you weren't caught," said Kira.

"Ah, touché," said Mr. Rukawa, who had hugged her as well. "Thank you for everything you've done for our son, we knew we were leaving him in capable hands."

Kira smiled, and then turned to Rukawa, who looked like he was surprised to see both his parents there in the room. He then turned to Kira, and his expression softened significantly.

"See that," said Mr. Rukawa, "that's how you look when you're in love."

"My son's in love," cooed Mrs. Rukawa.

Rukawa wanted to bury himself underneath a ton of sheets. With Kira, of course.

Kira blushed even more and then leaned over to Rukawa, and whispered, "I don't think I can handle any more embarrassment, I'll just go to the canteen for coffee, then I'll be back I promise." She kissed him in the cheek.

Kira nodded to his parents and rushed out the door.

Kira took a deep breath and leaned at the door, and looked up at the ceiling. She smiled widely, before straightening up, and walking to the elevators.

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NOT THE END. One more chapter to go.


	25. Epilogue

Aw, guys, thanks for reading all this, and since it's the end, please review. Pretty please, I would really appreciate it. Um, as for a sequel, I'm still thinking about it. There's already a plot playing in my head, but I haven't worked it completely out, so it may take a while. Rest assured, I have another story coming up. I also have one with Mitsui playing in my head, if anyone's interested, let me know. Please review! I will edit this to make it grammatically correct in a few days!** Special thanks to Sabrina, neko11lover, keia mizuki, hala, jhydl, liana, jenjen, moodygal, aya chan, clostridium, Elena, insomniac, DigitalLavender, zhen, crazy-chick14, dollarbanks, shoyo4 and last but certainly not least ****Miss Hachigatsu Kuroi. **

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You Mean, Rukawa has a best friend?

Epilogue

Second Year.

Kira brushed her hair cheerfully as she looked out the window. Down below she saw Rukawa walk through the garden of his home and out the gate, and walked a few steps and stopped in her own.

They have been officially been a couple for a solid six months now, with no signs of letting it end in any horizon. The only people who really knew about their relationship were Sendoh who had made Rukawa vow, under the punishment of giving up basketball for good, never to hurt her, much to her slight embarrassment, and Sakuragi, whom she had developed a close friendship with, since they have a special thing in common: hair color.

Rukawa had been skeptical and at the beginning even slightly jealous of her friendship with him, but she promised him that it was simply two people bonding over the color of their hair, and had assured him that what she and Sakuragi had was nothing compared to what she had for him.

"Besides," she had said to him that day, "we already went to Korea together, if that's not serious, I don't know what is."

Rukawa had taken her on a two-week trip to South Korea, his, erm, slightly expensive way of thanking her for giving him her blood, in addition to it being a totally romantic date. It wasn't in his character to do these kind of things, he thought as he planned things out, but then he loved Kira, and it was the best idea that he had come up with. She had refused at first, but he insisted, and it was now known to both Rukawa's and Kira's parents that their respective child's relationship with the other has now been upgraded from 'young puppy love' to'serious'.

Even in Korea, basketball was not far from Rukawa's mind. Kira knew this because she was dragged by the wrist to watch the Korean National Basketball team play against the Philippine National Basketball Team. Afterwards, to make it up to him for refusing the trip in the beginning, she stayed behind for a while in the basketball stadium, under the impression that she was going to the bathroom, bought a ball, and went up to the Korean basketball team (Rukawa was mightily impressed with them) and have them sign her ball to give to Rukawa later. Plus it was the perfect opportunity to try out her Korean.

She gave it to him on the plane on the way back, and though it was nothing compared to the NBA signed ball he had at home, she can tell that he appreciated it all the same, cause he let her rest her head on his shoulder during the entire flight (she was sleeping).

Kira took one final look in the full length mirror in the living room to check how she looked in her new uniform. She felt the same in a Shohoku uniform than she did in a Ryonan uniform, and after confirming that everything was where they should be, she grabbed her bag and walked out of her house.

She smiled as she saw Rukawa waiting for her by the gate, nodding sleepily by the wall.

"Morning, Kaede," she greeted, kissing him lightly in the cheek.

He looked up sleepily, and muttered a greeting. She looked at his hand, where he was carrying a large bag that held his uniform and shoes. She hoped that there were books and a pen somewhere in there.

"How do I look?" she asked, gesturing to her Shohoku uniform.

"Beautiful," he muttered, though not without expression. He kissed her lightly. "Very beautiful."

Kira grinned. "Suck up."

Rukawa didn't answer.

"Where's your bike?" she asked, when they started walking to school.

"Don't need it."

"How come?"

Rukawa looked at her. "You don't have a bike," he said, "and hell will freeze over before I let you ride a bike in that little skirt."

"Oh, right," said Kira, smiling sweetly at him.

When they were nearing school, Rukawa was surprisingly wide awake. Maybe it was because Kira kept slapping him lightly once in a while when he starts dozing off, or maybe it was because they were meeting many students now that were mostly men and all were looking curiously at Kira. Nevertheless, when he entered school, he was aware of his surroundings.

Whispers once again followed them.

"Do you know that girl?"

"No, she looks new."

"Isn't she from Ryonan?"

"Then why is she wearing a Shohoku uniform?"

"And why the heck is she walking next to _my_ Rukawa?"

"_Your _Rukawa? I'll have you know that that's _my _Rukawa!"

Kira gave Rukawa a slightly helpless look, in which he returned with a rather dull and at the same time exasperated one.

"Do you think I'll survive the first week here?" she asked.

"No one's gonna dare lay a finger on you while I'm around," he muttered, casting both irritated and dull looks at the group of girls that looked like they were plotting how best to murder Kira.

Kira grinned up at him and batted her eyelids. "My hero."

"Hn."

Whispers followed them as they entered the school. Rukawa waited for Kira outside the secretary's office, she had to get her schedule, class and locker. Kira was slightly disappointed that she and him weren't in the same class, but got over it quickly, saying that she couldn't have everything in life.

Though they weren't in the same class, one consolation was that their rooms were next to each other. They leaned at the wall separating the two doors of their classroom, Kira talking and Rukawa half listening, half sleeping, waiting for the bell to ring.

All the while, there was a group of about twenty or so girls, near the locker, looking murderously at Kira, and watching their every move. Rukawa and Kira didn't notice them, since there were many other students walking back and forth in the hall.

Finally, the bell rang. Kira jumped slightly, while Rukawa didn't seem to notice, but his eyes did open fully.

Kira straightened up. "I'll see you lunch, then?"

"You better," he mumbled.

The girls by the locker, which were now numbering to forty five, all leaned in to listen.

"I will," she said, then turned to the door.

Rukawa then grabbed her right hand and pulled her close to give her a soft kiss.

"You realize," she said, breaking the lip lock, their foreheads touching, "that you just handed me my death sentence."

"No I didn't," he mumbled, again, and resumed to kissing her.

Kira pulled back slowly, and smiled at him. "I'll see you later, Kaede," she breathed softly. She smacked him in the lips and entered the classroom.

Once Kira has closed the door of her classroom, Kaede went and entered his own.

The forty-five girls all wailed loudly, and tearfully.

The END.


End file.
